diff --git a/fileinstall/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/fileinstall/internal/BundleTransformer.java b/fileinstall/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/fileinstall/internal/BundleTransformer.java
index 563d895..f269dea 100644
--- a/fileinstall/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/fileinstall/internal/BundleTransformer.java
+++ b/fileinstall/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/fileinstall/internal/BundleTransformer.java
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@
             }
             jar = new JarFile(artifact);
             Manifest m = jar.getManifest();
-            if (m.getMainAttributes().getValue(new Attributes.Name("Bundle-SymbolicName")) != null)
+            if (m != null && m.getMainAttributes().getValue(new Attributes.Name("Bundle-SymbolicName")) != null)
             {
                 return true;
             }
diff --git a/fileinstall/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/fileinstall/internal/DirectoryWatcher.java b/fileinstall/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/fileinstall/internal/DirectoryWatcher.java
index b455d82..a7e3620 100644
--- a/fileinstall/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/fileinstall/internal/DirectoryWatcher.java
+++ b/fileinstall/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/fileinstall/internal/DirectoryWatcher.java
@@ -921,6 +921,11 @@
         is.mark(256 * 1024);
         JarInputStream jar = new JarInputStream(is);
         Manifest m = jar.getManifest();
+        if( m == null ) {
+            throw new BundleException(
+                "The bundle " + bundleLocation + " does not have a META-INF/MANIFEST.MF! "+
+                    "Make sure, META-INF and MANIFEST.MF are the first 2 entries in your JAR!");
+        }
         String sn = m.getMainAttributes().getValue(Constants.BUNDLE_SYMBOLICNAME);
         String vStr = m.getMainAttributes().getValue(Constants.BUNDLE_VERSION);
         Version v = vStr == null ? Version.emptyVersion : Version.parseVersion(vStr);