diff --git a/lib/plugins/config/settings/config.class.php b/lib/plugins/config/settings/config.class.php
index 4d694de1fb87dfb845b2156b8b193408adc63281..1a116cb34fd56d2ca6c3fefdfbf52ad1e3287f1c 100644
--- a/lib/plugins/config/settings/config.class.php
+++ b/lib/plugins/config/settings/config.class.php
@@ -133,7 +133,11 @@ if (!class_exists('configuration')) {
 
       if ($this->_format == 'php') {
 
-        $contents = @php_strip_whitespace($file);
+        if(@file_exists($file)){
+            $contents = @php_strip_whitespace($file);
+        }else{
+            $contents = '';
+        }
         $pattern = '/\$'.$this->_name.'\[[\'"]([^=]+)[\'"]\] ?= ?(.*?);(?=[^;]*(?:\$'.$this->_name.'|@include|$))/s';
         $matches=array();
         preg_match_all($pattern,$contents,$matches,PREG_SET_ORDER);