diff --git a/cygnus.service b/cygnus.service
index 002a054..df87a7f 100644
--- a/cygnus.service
+++ b/cygnus.service
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ Description=Generate a new fortune for the cygnus landing page.
 
 [Service]
 Type=oneshot
+WorkingDirectory = /home/shoofle/cygnus
 ExecStart=python /home/shoofle/cygnus/update_fortune.py
 User=shoofle
 
diff --git a/update_fortune.py b/update_fortune.py
index 5da4adb..a55550b 100644
--- a/update_fortune.py
+++ b/update_fortune.py
@@ -1,9 +1,16 @@
 from bs4 import BeautifulSoup
 import os
 
+file_name = "/var/www/html/index.html"
+
+#if the file doesn't exist, we should copy the template to the folder
+if not os.exists(file_name):
+    template_name = "index.html" 
+    shutil.copy(template_name, file_name)
+    print("The index file was not available, so we've restored it from template.")
+
 fortune = os.popen("/usr/games/fortune | /usr/games/cowsay").read()
 
-file_name = "/var/www/html/index.html"
 soup = None
 
 print("The emergency fortune system has set the fortune to {}".format(fortune))