diff --git a/rtgui/filepanel.cc b/rtgui/filepanel.cc
index a365d7141..c22ee9fa3 100644
--- a/rtgui/filepanel.cc
+++ b/rtgui/filepanel.cc
@@ -130,7 +130,7 @@ void FilePanel::init () {
     dirBrowser->fillDirTree ();
     placesBrowser->refreshPlacesList ();
 
-    if (argv1!="")
+    if (argv1!="" && Glib::file_test (argv1, Glib::FILE_TEST_IS_DIR))
         dirBrowser->open (argv1);
     else {
         if (options.startupDir==STARTUPDIR_HOME)