diff --git a/Directory.cxx b/Directory.cxx
index 04b286613..58cea6355 100644
--- a/Directory.cxx
+++ b/Directory.cxx
@@ -244,6 +244,11 @@ unsigned long Directory::GetNumberOfFilesInDirectory(const kwsys_stl::string& na
 {
   DIR* dir = opendir(name.c_str());
 
+  if (!dir)
+    {
+    return 0;
+    }
+
   unsigned long count = 0;
   for (kwsys_dirent* d = readdir(dir); d; d = readdir(dir) )
     {