diff --git a/src/browser/auto-update-manager.coffee b/src/browser/auto-update-manager.coffee
index 612702a67..6a008d44d 100644
--- a/src/browser/auto-update-manager.coffee
+++ b/src/browser/auto-update-manager.coffee
@@ -50,13 +50,13 @@ class AutoUpdateManager
       @setState(UpdateAvailableState)
       @emitUpdateAvailableEvent(@getWindows()...)
 
-    @config.onDidChange 'core.enableAutoUpdate', ({newValue}) =>
+    @config.onDidChange 'core.automaticallyUpdate', ({newValue}) =>
       if newValue
         @scheduleUpdateCheck()
       else
         @cancelScheduledUpdateCheck()
 
-    @scheduleUpdateCheck() if @config.get 'core.enableAutoUpdate'
+    @scheduleUpdateCheck() if @config.get 'core.automaticallyUpdate'
 
     switch process.platform
       when 'win32'
diff --git a/src/config-schema.coffee b/src/config-schema.coffee
index 31dd980bb..88e00c71d 100644
--- a/src/config-schema.coffee
+++ b/src/config-schema.coffee
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ module.exports =
         description: 'Automatically open an empty editor on startup.'
         type: 'boolean'
         default: true
-      enableAutoUpdate:
+      automaticallyUpdate:
         description: 'Automatically update Atom when a new release is available.'
         type: 'boolean'
         default: true
diff --git a/src/config.coffee b/src/config.coffee
index c680cf415..2a883a57d 100644
--- a/src/config.coffee
+++ b/src/config.coffee
@@ -779,9 +779,14 @@ class Config
   loadUserConfig: ->
     return if @shouldNotAccessFileSystem()
 
-    unless fs.existsSync(@configFilePath)
-      fs.makeTreeSync(path.dirname(@configFilePath))
-      CSON.writeFileSync(@configFilePath, {})
+    try
+      unless fs.existsSync(@configFilePath)
+        fs.makeTreeSync(path.dirname(@configFilePath))
+        CSON.writeFileSync(@configFilePath, {})
+    catch error
+      @configFileHasErrors = true
+      @notifyFailure("Failed to initialize `#{path.basename(@configFilePath)}`", error.stack)
+      return
 
     try
       unless @savePending
@@ -820,7 +825,7 @@ class Config
     @watchSubscription = null
 
   notifyFailure: (errorMessage, detail) ->
-    @notificationManager.addError(errorMessage, {detail, dismissable: true}) if @notificationManager
+    @notificationManager?.addError(errorMessage, {detail, dismissable: true})
 
   save: ->
     return if @shouldNotAccessFileSystem()