diff --git a/src/vs/workbench/contrib/tasks/common/taskConfiguration.ts b/src/vs/workbench/contrib/tasks/common/taskConfiguration.ts
index dad7b3896f50ea6254282110950f4db0d18ee9ef..f187a4e2e8ab28676c8a1f0fc5321516f77228bc 100644
--- a/src/vs/workbench/contrib/tasks/common/taskConfiguration.ts
+++ b/src/vs/workbench/contrib/tasks/common/taskConfiguration.ts
@@ -930,6 +930,9 @@ namespace CommandConfiguration {
 
 	function fromBase(this: void, config: BaseCommandConfiguationShape, context: ParseContext): Tasks.CommandConfiguration | undefined {
 		let name: Tasks.CommandString | undefined = ShellString.from(config.command);
+		if (name === undefined) {
+			return undefined;
+		}
 		let runtime: Tasks.RuntimeType;
 		if (Types.isString(config.type)) {
 			if (config.type === 'shell' || config.type === 'process') {