diff --git a/packages/angular-cli/upgrade/version.ts b/packages/angular-cli/upgrade/version.ts
index ca591ef62f63..ae48703e3b4c 100644
--- a/packages/angular-cli/upgrade/version.ts
+++ b/packages/angular-cli/upgrade/version.ts
@@ -76,6 +76,11 @@ export class Version {
 
 
     const configPath = CliConfig.configFilePath();
+
+    if (configPath === null) {
+      return new Version(null);
+    }
+
     const configJson = readFileSync(configPath, 'utf8');
 
     try {
diff --git a/tests/e2e/tests/misc/version.ts b/tests/e2e/tests/misc/version.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..d5d5cbd2a2a5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/e2e/tests/misc/version.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+import {deleteFile} from '../../utils/fs';
+import {ng} from '../../utils/process';
+
+
+export default function() {
+  return ng('version')
+    .then(() => deleteFile('angular-cli.json'))
+    // doesn't fail on a project with missing angular-cli.json
+    .then(() => ng('version'));
+}