diff --git a/setup/start.sh b/setup/start.sh
index 9683e78d1..e53aee6bc 100755
--- a/setup/start.sh
+++ b/setup/start.sh
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ set_progress "10" "Ensuring directories"
 # keep these in sync with paths.js
 [[ "${is_update}" == "false" ]] && btrfs subvolume create "${DATA_DIR}/box"
 mkdir -p "${DATA_DIR}/box/appicons"
+mkdir -p "${DATA_DIR}/box/certs"
 mkdir -p "${DATA_DIR}/box/mail"
 mkdir -p "${DATA_DIR}/graphite"
 
diff --git a/src/paths.js b/src/paths.js
index 01bf4bcde..b024e775a 100644
--- a/src/paths.js
+++ b/src/paths.js
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ exports = module.exports = {
     BOX_DATA_DIR: path.join(config.baseDir(), 'data/box'),
     // this is not part of appdata because an icon may be set before install
     APPICONS_DIR: path.join(config.baseDir(), 'data/box/appicons'),
+    APP_CERT_DIR: path.join(config.baseDir(), 'data/box/certs'),
     MAIL_DATA_DIR: path.join(config.baseDir(), 'data/box/mail'),
 
     CLOUDRON_AVATAR_FILE: path.join(config.baseDir(), 'data/box/avatar.png'),