diff --git a/start-jupyter b/start-jupyter
index 77143287440279c030d1d3b98ce641d04752b854..06ade876de5771de8ef486347358bc43f86fa9d0 100755
--- a/start-jupyter
+++ b/start-jupyter
@@ -340,6 +340,7 @@ function main () {
 
     echo "Establishing ssh master connection."
     # Set up control master for connection sharing
+    mkdir -p "${HOME}/.ssh"
     ssh_socket_dir="$(mktemp -d "${HOME}/.ssh/socket.XXXXX")"
     ssh_frontend "" "-MNf"