diff --git a/app/base_config.js b/app/base_config.js
index 31f752cf2..be6096ec3 100644
--- a/app/base_config.js
+++ b/app/base_config.js
@@ -8,7 +8,8 @@ module.exports = {
   start,
 };
 
-function start(name, targetPath) {
+function start(name, targetPath, options = {}) {
+  const { allowMalformedOnStartup } = options;
   let cachedValue = null;
 
   try {
@@ -23,7 +24,7 @@ function start(name, targetPath) {
       cachedValue = Object.create(null);
     }
   } catch (error) {
-    if (error.code !== 'ENOENT') {
+    if (!allowMalformedOnStartup && error.code !== 'ENOENT') {
       throw error;
     }
 
diff --git a/app/ephemeral_config.js b/app/ephemeral_config.js
index b2b91cb5a..84b498743 100644
--- a/app/ephemeral_config.js
+++ b/app/ephemeral_config.js
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@ const { start } = require('./base_config');
 const userDataPath = app.getPath('userData');
 const targetPath = path.join(userDataPath, 'ephemeral.json');
 
-const ephemeralConfig = start('ephemeral', targetPath);
+const ephemeralConfig = start('ephemeral', targetPath, {
+  allowMalformedOnStartup: true,
+});
 
 module.exports = ephemeralConfig;