diff --git a/kpatch/kpatch b/kpatch/kpatch
index 73d5cad..1b7fb6f 100755
--- a/kpatch/kpatch
+++ b/kpatch/kpatch
@@ -140,7 +140,8 @@ case "$1" in
 	[[ "$#" -ne 2 ]] && usage
 	PATCH="$2"
 	[[ -e "$PATCH" ]] || die "$PATCH doesn't exist"
-	[[ ${PATCH: -3} == ".ko" ]] || "$PATCH isn't a .ko file"
+	[[ ${PATCH: -3} == ".ko" ]] || die "$PATCH isn't a .ko file"
+	mkdir -p "$USERDIR" || die "failed to create install directory"
 	cp -f "$PATCH" "$USERDIR" || die "failed to install patch $PATCH"
 	;;