diff --git a/IPython/html/services/contents/filemanager.py b/IPython/html/services/contents/filemanager.py
index f0ea688f8..da9167239 100644
--- a/IPython/html/services/contents/filemanager.py
+++ b/IPython/html/services/contents/filemanager.py
@@ -26,7 +26,10 @@ class FileContentsManager(ContentsManager):
     root_dir = Unicode(config=True)
 
     def _root_dir_default(self):
-        return self.parent.notebook_dir
+        try:
+            return self.parent.notebook_dir
+        except AttributeError:
+            return getcwd()
 
     save_script = Bool(False, config=True, help='DEPRECATED, IGNORED')
     def _save_script_changed(self):
diff --git a/IPython/html/services/kernels/kernelmanager.py b/IPython/html/services/kernels/kernelmanager.py
index e3c10b660..e1bd5c256 100644
--- a/IPython/html/services/kernels/kernelmanager.py
+++ b/IPython/html/services/kernels/kernelmanager.py
@@ -29,7 +29,10 @@ class MappingKernelManager(MultiKernelManager):
     root_dir = Unicode(config=True)
 
     def _root_dir_default(self):
-        return self.parent.notebook_dir
+        try:
+            return self.parent.notebook_dir
+        except AttributeError:
+            return getcwd()
 
     def _root_dir_changed(self, name, old, new):
         """Do a bit of validation of the root dir."""