diff --git a/lib/content/read.js b/lib/content/read.js
index 6cb7b08..23bc013 100644
--- a/lib/content/read.js
+++ b/lib/content/read.js
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ function readStream (cache, integrity, opts) {
 module.exports.hasContent = hasContent
 function hasContent (cache, integrity) {
   if (!integrity) { return BB.resolve(false) }
-  return pickContentSri(cache, integrity)
+  return pickContentSri(cache, integrity, true)
   .catch({code: 'ENOENT'}, () => false)
   .catch({code: 'EPERM'}, err => {
     if (process.platform !== 'win32') {
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ function hasContent (cache, integrity) {
 }
 
 module.exports._pickContentSri = pickContentSri
-function pickContentSri (cache, integrity) {
+function pickContentSri (cache, integrity, checkFs) {
   const sri = ssri.parse(integrity)
   // If `integrity` has multiple entries, pick the first digest
   // with available local data.
@@ -72,10 +72,14 @@ function pickContentSri (cache, integrity) {
   const digests = sri[algo]
   if (digests.length <= 1) {
     const cpath = contentPath(cache, digests[0])
-    return fs.lstatAsync(cpath).then(() => digests[0])
+    if (checkFs) {
+      return fs.lstatAsync(cpath).then(() => digests[0])
+    } else {
+      return BB.resolve(digests[0])
+    }
   } else {
     return BB.any(sri[sri.pickAlgorithm()].map(meta => {
-      return pickContentSri(cache, meta)
+      return pickContentSri(cache, meta, true)
     }))
   }
 }