diff --git a/src/plugins/projectexplorer/userfileaccessor.cpp b/src/plugins/projectexplorer/userfileaccessor.cpp
index a5ffee005a22414b125891c67f06d5150c9f38a0..3b6f8b4f07727495046b877bbaf97cef703d8699 100644
--- a/src/plugins/projectexplorer/userfileaccessor.cpp
+++ b/src/plugins/projectexplorer/userfileaccessor.cpp
@@ -169,8 +169,11 @@ QVariantMap UserFileAccessor::restoreSettings(Project *project)
     if (m_lastVersion < 0 || !project)
         return QVariantMap();
 
-    PersistentSettingsReader reader;
     QString fileName(fileNameFor(project->file()->fileName()));
+    if (!QFile::exists(fileName))
+        return QVariantMap();
+
+    PersistentSettingsReader reader;
     reader.load(fileName);
 
     QVariantMap map(reader.restoreValues());