diff --git a/core/src/main/java/hudson/model/ItemGroupMixIn.java b/core/src/main/java/hudson/model/ItemGroupMixIn.java
index 51c963004b6c0f0101cc41a8fe486478936f04dc..57ae57f9b2e7b6bd68c9d0465a5afe97eee73323 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/hudson/model/ItemGroupMixIn.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/hudson/model/ItemGroupMixIn.java
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ public abstract class ItemGroupMixIn {
 
         File[] subdirs = modulesDir.listFiles(new FileFilter() {
             public boolean accept(File child) {
-                return child.isDirectory() && new File(child,"config.xml").exists();
+                return child.isDirectory();
             }
         });
         CopyOnWriteMap.Tree<K,V> configurations = new CopyOnWriteMap.Tree<K,V>();
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/hudson/model/Items.java b/core/src/main/java/hudson/model/Items.java
index 9b0993dfb2c4da99012dd2c745a6048dc610b403..c2247d9b9c005e231fee524c74d69680093c0f91 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/hudson/model/Items.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/hudson/model/Items.java
@@ -42,6 +42,8 @@ import org.apache.commons.lang.StringUtils;
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.*;
+import java.util.logging.Level;
+import java.util.logging.Logger;
 import javax.annotation.CheckForNull;
 import jenkins.model.DirectlyModifiableTopLevelItemGroup;
 import org.apache.commons.io.FileUtils;
@@ -272,7 +274,12 @@ public class Items {
      *      The directory that contains the config file, not the config file itself.
      */
     public static Item load(ItemGroup parent, File dir) throws IOException {
-        Item item = (Item)getConfigFile(dir).read();
+        XmlFile xmlFile = getConfigFile(dir);
+        if (!xmlFile.getFile().exists()) {
+            Logger.getLogger( Items.class.getName() ).log( Level.WARNING, "could not find file " + xmlFile.getFile());
+            return null;
+        }
+        Item item = (Item)xmlFile.read();
         item.onLoad(parent,dir.getName());
         return item;
     }