diff --git a/packages/composer-common/lib/config/configmediator.js b/packages/composer-common/lib/config/configmediator.js
index e98845815a..f2c01afc85 100644
--- a/packages/composer-common/lib/config/configmediator.js
+++ b/packages/composer-common/lib/config/configmediator.js
@@ -46,6 +46,10 @@ class ConfigMediator {
                 return config.get(key);
             }
         } catch (e) {
+            let msg = e.message;
+            if (msg && msg.match(/Cannot parse config file/)){
+                throw e;
+            }
             // We don't care if we can't find the config module, it won't be
             // there when the code is running inside a webpacked or similar environment
         }
diff --git a/packages/composer-common/test/config/configmediator.js b/packages/composer-common/test/config/configmediator.js
index a99002e182..ac805f5690 100644
--- a/packages/composer-common/test/config/configmediator.js
+++ b/packages/composer-common/test/config/configmediator.js
@@ -97,6 +97,22 @@ describe('ConfigMediator', function() {
             });
         });
 
+        it('should correctly re throw the error if the config file can not be parsed', () => {
+            // would be good if we could get mockerty to throw an error... but have to sort of work around that..
+            const mockConfig = {
+                has: sinon.stub().throws(new Error('Computer says Cannot parse config file  huh ')),
+                get: sinon.stub()
+            };
+
+            mockery.registerMock('config', mockConfig);
+
+            (()=>{
+                ConfigMediator.get('thingy',{
+                    thingy: 'getaroundtoit'
+                });
+            }).should.throw(/Cannot parse config file/);
+        });
+
     });