diff --git a/notmuch-config.c b/notmuch-config.c
index d9c2eb3f..befe9b5b 100644
--- a/notmuch-config.c
+++ b/notmuch-config.c
@@ -456,10 +456,19 @@ notmuch_config_save (notmuch_config_t *config)
     /* Try not to overwrite symlinks. */
     filename = realpath (config->filename, NULL);
     if (! filename) {
-	fprintf (stderr, "Error canonicalizing %s: %s\n", config->filename,
-		 strerror (errno));
-	g_free (data);
-	return 1;
+	if (errno == ENOENT) {
+	    filename = strdup (config->filename);
+	    if (! filename) {
+		fprintf (stderr, "Out of memory.\n");
+		g_free (data);
+		return 1;
+	    }
+	} else {
+	    fprintf (stderr, "Error canonicalizing %s: %s\n", config->filename,
+		     strerror (errno));
+	    g_free (data);
+	    return 1;
+	}
     }
 
     if (! g_file_set_contents (filename, data, length, &error)) {
diff --git a/test/setup b/test/setup
index 8cc55767..124ef1c8 100755
--- a/test/setup
+++ b/test/setup
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@ test_description='"notmuch setup"'
 . ./test-lib.sh
 
 test_begin_subtest "Create a new config interactively"
-test_subtest_known_broken
 notmuch --config=new-notmuch-config > /dev/null <<EOF
 Test Suite
 test.suite@example.com