diff --git a/src/Paket.Core/ConfigFile.fs b/src/Paket.Core/ConfigFile.fs
index 763ca475ab..5f9d679695 100644
--- a/src/Paket.Core/ConfigFile.fs
+++ b/src/Paket.Core/ConfigFile.fs
@@ -55,7 +55,12 @@ let private getRandomSalt() =
 /// Encrypts a string with a user specific keys
 let Encrypt (password : string) = 
     let salt = getRandomSalt()
-    let encryptedPassword = ProtectedData.Protect(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes password, salt, DataProtectionScope.CurrentUser)
+    let encryptedPassword = 
+        try 
+            ProtectedData.Protect(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes password, salt, DataProtectionScope.CurrentUser)
+        with | :? CryptographicException as e ->
+            verbosefn "could not protect password: %s\n for current user" e.Message
+            ProtectedData.Protect(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes password, salt, DataProtectionScope.LocalMachine)
     salt |> Convert.ToBase64String ,
     encryptedPassword |> Convert.ToBase64String