diff --git a/salvus/compute.coffee b/salvus/compute.coffee
index 913e6b60af..79093c12e1 100644
--- a/salvus/compute.coffee
+++ b/salvus/compute.coffee
@@ -1241,7 +1241,7 @@ class ProjectClient extends EventEmitter
                         else
                             if status.state != 'running'
                                 dbg("something went wrong and not running ?!")
-                                cb("not running")
+                                cb("not running")  # exact callback error is used in the UI
                             else
                                 dbg("status includes info about address...")
                                 address =
diff --git a/salvus/page/project_files.cjsx b/salvus/page/project_files.cjsx
index d519008300..8e3e5d04fa 100644
--- a/salvus/page/project_files.cjsx
+++ b/salvus/page/project_files.cjsx
@@ -1431,6 +1431,9 @@ ProjectFiles = rclass
                         e = <ErrorDisplay title="No such directory" error={"The path #{@props.current_path} does not exist."} />
                 when 'not_a_dir'
                     e = <ErrorDisplay title="Not a directory" error={"#{@props.current_path} is not a directory."} />
+                when 'not_running'
+                    # This shouldn't happen, but due to maybe a slight race condition in the backend it can.
+                    e = <ErrorDisplay title="Project still not running" error={"The project was not running when this directory listing was requested.  Please try again in a moment."} />
                 when 'no_instance'
                     e = <ErrorDisplay title="Host down" error={"The host for this project is down, being rebooted, or is overloaded with users.   Free projects are hosted on Google Pre-empt instances, which are rebooted at least once per day and periodically become unavailable.   To increase the robustness of your projects, please become a paying customer (US $7/month) by entering your credit card in the Billing tab next to account settings, then email help@sagemath.com with links to the projects you want moved to a members only server."} />
                 else
diff --git a/salvus/page/project_store.coffee b/salvus/page/project_store.coffee
index 2345859434..50fbd29fdb 100644
--- a/salvus/page/project_store.coffee
+++ b/salvus/page/project_store.coffee
@@ -721,6 +721,8 @@ class ProjectStore extends Store
                 return {error:'no_dir'}
             else if listing.indexOf('ot a directory') != -1
                 return {error:'not_a_dir'}
+            else if listing.indexOf('not running') != -1  # yes, no underscore.
+                return {error:'not_running'}
             else
                 return {error:listing}
         if not listing?