diff --git a/src/hydra-queue-runner/hydra-queue-runner.cc b/src/hydra-queue-runner/hydra-queue-runner.cc
index 4d0ec169..e85c90c0 100644
--- a/src/hydra-queue-runner/hydra-queue-runner.cc
+++ b/src/hydra-queue-runner/hydra-queue-runner.cc
@@ -105,6 +105,8 @@ State::State()
         printMsg(lvlError, "hydra.conf: binary_cache_s3_bucket is deprecated and ignored. use store_uri=s3:// instead");
     if (config->getStrOption("binary_cache_secret_key_file") != "")
         printMsg(lvlError, "hydra.conf: binary_cache_secret_key_file is deprecated and ignored. use store_uri=...?secret-key= instead");
+
+    createDirs(rootsDir);
 }