diff --git a/screening/dist/admin/backup-config.sh b/screening/dist/admin/backup-config.sh
index 766e9bf7c7771134116616127c2b6242ccdbeb28..3affafbdbe81f604797d4e82c2a8c213eb5d1bd6 100755
--- a/screening/dist/admin/backup-config.sh
+++ b/screening/dist/admin/backup-config.sh
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 # makes a backup of all configuration files to the specified directory
 
 CONF=$1
+mkdir -p $CONF
 
 BASE=`dirname "$0"`
 if [ ${BASE#/} == ${BASE} ]; then