diff --git a/bench/app.py b/bench/app.py
index f8751266..18ee11c0 100644
--- a/bench/app.py
+++ b/bench/app.py
@@ -113,7 +113,10 @@ def get_current_frappe_version(bench='.'):
 	apps_dir = os.path.join(bench, 'apps')
 	frappe_dir = os.path.join(apps_dir, 'frappe')
 
-	return get_major_version(get_current_version(frappe_dir))
+	try:
+		return get_major_version(get_current_version(frappe_dir))
+	except IOError:
+		return ''
 
 def get_current_branch(repo_dir):
 	return get_cmd_output("basename $(git symbolic-ref -q HEAD)", cwd=repo_dir)