diff --git a/lightningd/options.c b/lightningd/options.c
index 7117b1b10..b20bd3ea0 100644
--- a/lightningd/options.c
+++ b/lightningd/options.c
@@ -915,6 +915,7 @@ static void promote_missing_files(struct lightningd *ld)
 		if (streq(d->d_name, ".")
 		    || streq(d->d_name, "..")
 		    || streq(d->d_name, "config")
+		    || streq(d->d_name, "lightning-rpc")
 		    || strends(d->d_name, ".pid"))
 			continue;