diff --git a/apt.go b/apt.go
index cf8a4fd..a6a68cb 100644
--- a/apt.go
+++ b/apt.go
@@ -15,6 +15,10 @@ func (me *Machine) initPackages() {
 		return
 	}
 
+	if me.Packages == nil {
+		me.Packages = new(Packages)
+	}
+
 	// Print the installed packages and their versions
 	for pkg, version := range newP {
 		new1 := new(Package)
@@ -37,7 +41,7 @@ func (me *Machine) addNew(name string, version string) bool {
 	return me.Packages.Append(new1)
 }
 
-func (me *Machine) updatePackages() string {
+func (me *Machine) UpdatePackages() string {
 	// Get the list of installed packages for the detected distro
 	newP, err := getPackageList(me.Distro)
 	if err != nil {
diff --git a/config.go b/config.go
index 03c81c5..cf41cbe 100644
--- a/config.go
+++ b/config.go
@@ -81,14 +81,24 @@ func (m *Machine) ConfigLoad() error {
 	hostname, _ := os.Hostname()
 	fname := hostname + ".pb"
 
-	if data, err := m.loadFile(fname); err == nil {
+	var data []byte
+	var err error
+	if data, err = loadFile(fname); err != nil {
+		// something went wrong loading the file
+		return err
+	}
+
+	if data != nil {
 		if err = proto.Unmarshal(data, m); err != nil {
 			log.Warn("broken zookeeper.pb config file", fname)
 			return err
 		}
-	} else {
-		return err
+		return nil
 	}
+
+	m.Hostname = hostname
+	m.Distro = detectDistro()
+	m.initPackages()
 	return nil
 }
 
@@ -97,6 +107,12 @@ func loadFile(filename string) ([]byte, error) {
 	p := filepath.Join(homeDir, ".config/zookeeper")
 	fullname := filepath.Join(p, filename)
 	data, err := os.ReadFile(fullname)
+	if errors.Is(err, os.ErrNotExist) {
+		// if file does not exist, just return nil. this
+		// will cause ConfigLoad() to try the next config file like "forge.text"
+		// because the user might want to edit the .config by hand
+		return nil, nil
+	}
 	if err != nil {
 		// log.Info("open config file :", err)
 		return nil, err