diff --git a/components/onlinepackagemanager/opkman_const.pas b/components/onlinepackagemanager/opkman_const.pas
index 4adcb40d1f..d8d26849a4 100644
--- a/components/onlinepackagemanager/opkman_const.pas
+++ b/components/onlinepackagemanager/opkman_const.pas
@@ -207,6 +207,7 @@ resourcestring
                           'Please note: in order for the changes to take effect you must rebuid the IDE.';
   rsMainFrm_rsUninstall_Nothing = 'None of the checked packages are installed. Nothing to uninstall.';
   rsMainFrm_rsUninstall_Error = 'Cannot uninstall package "%s"!';
+  rsMainFrm_rsDestDirError = 'Cannot create directory "%s". Operation aborted.';
 
   //progress form
   rsProgressFrm_Caption0 = 'Downloading packages';
diff --git a/components/onlinepackagemanager/opkman_mainfrm.pas b/components/onlinepackagemanager/opkman_mainfrm.pas
index 2f3c969e2d..81c9499e17 100644
--- a/components/onlinepackagemanager/opkman_mainfrm.pas
+++ b/components/onlinepackagemanager/opkman_mainfrm.pas
@@ -162,6 +162,7 @@ type
     procedure StartUpdates;
     procedure StopUpdates;
     procedure Rebuild;
+    function CheckDstDir(const ADstDir: String): Boolean;
   public
     procedure ShowOptions(const AActivePageIndex: Integer = 0);
   end;
@@ -269,8 +270,27 @@ begin
     MessageDlgEx(rsMainFrm_rsNoPackageToDownload, mtInformation, [mbOk], Self)
 end;
 
+function TMainFrm.CheckDstDir(const ADstDir: String): Boolean;
+begin
+  Result := True;
+  if not DirectoryExists(ADstDir) then
+  begin
+    if not ForceDirectories(ADstDir) then
+    begin
+      MessageDlgEx(Format(rsMainFrm_rsDestDirError, [ADstDir]), mtError, [mbOk], Self);
+      Result := False;
+    end;
+  end;
+end;
+
+
 function TMainFrm.Download(const ADstDir: String; var ADoExtract: Boolean): TModalResult;
 begin
+  if not CheckDstDir(ADstDir) then
+  begin
+    Result := mrCancel;
+    Exit;
+  end;
   ADoExtract := False;
   ProgressFrm := TProgressFrm.Create(MainFrm);
   try
@@ -290,6 +310,11 @@ end;
 function TMainFrm.Extract(const ASrcDir, ADstDir: String; var ADoOpen: Boolean;
   const AIsUpdate: Boolean = False): TModalResult;
 begin
+  if not CheckDstDir(ADstDir) then
+  begin
+    Result := mrCancel;
+    Exit;
+  end;
   ProgressFrm := TProgressFrm.Create(MainFrm);
   try
     PackageUnzipper := TPackageUnzipper.Create;
@@ -330,6 +355,11 @@ end;
 
 function TMainFrm.UpdateP(const ADstDir: String; var ADoExtract: Boolean): TModalResult;
 begin
+  if not CheckDstDir(ADstDir) then
+   begin
+     Result := mrCancel;
+     Exit;
+   end;
   ADoExtract := False;
   ProgressFrm := TProgressFrm.Create(MainFrm);
   try
diff --git a/components/onlinepackagemanager/opkman_optionsfrm.pas b/components/onlinepackagemanager/opkman_optionsfrm.pas
index 41a679e385..16a41aff40 100644
--- a/components/onlinepackagemanager/opkman_optionsfrm.pas
+++ b/components/onlinepackagemanager/opkman_optionsfrm.pas
@@ -199,6 +199,12 @@ begin
   Options.LocalRepositoryPackages := AppendPathDelim(edLocalRepositoryPackages.Text);
   Options.LocalRepositoryArchive := AppendPathDelim(edLocalRepositoryArchive.Text);
   Options.LocalRepositoryUpdate := AppendPathDelim(edLocalRepositoryUpdate.Text);
+  if not DirectoryExists(Options.LocalRepositoryPackages) then
+    ForceDirectories(Options.LocalRepositoryPackages);
+  if not DirectoryExists(Options.LocalRepositoryArchive) then
+    ForceDirectories(Options.LocalRepositoryArchive);
+  if not DirectoryExists(Options.LocalRepositoryUpdate) then
+    ForceDirectories(Options.LocalRepositoryUpdate);
 
   Options.UserProfile := cbSelectProfile.ItemIndex;
   for I := 0 to lbExcludeFiles.Items.Count - 1 do