diff --git a/src/main-process/main.js b/src/main-process/main.js
index 11703bf3f..beb93f091 100644
--- a/src/main-process/main.js
+++ b/src/main-process/main.js
@@ -20,8 +20,12 @@ const args =
 function isAtomRepoPath (repoPath) {
   let packageJsonPath = path.join(repoPath, 'package.json')
   if (fs.statSyncNoException(packageJsonPath)) {
-    let packageJson = CSON.readFileSync(packageJsonPath)
-    return packageJson.name === 'atom'
+    try {
+      let packageJson = CSON.readFileSync(packageJsonPath)
+      return packageJson.name === 'atom'
+    } catch (e) {
+      return false
+    }
   }
 
   return false