diff --git a/packages/lib/src/plugin_loader.ts b/packages/lib/src/plugin_loader.ts
index 45279946..115aef46 100644
--- a/packages/lib/src/plugin_loader.ts
+++ b/packages/lib/src/plugin_loader.ts
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
  * @module lib/plugin_loader
  */
 import path from "path";
+import fs from "fs/promises";
 import * as libErrors from "./errors";
 import * as libPlugin from "./plugin";
 import { logger } from "./logging";
@@ -29,8 +30,13 @@ export async function loadPluginInfos(pluginList: Map<string, string>) {
 		// Check if plugin path exists, otherwise remove it
 		try {
 			require.resolve(pluginPath);
-		} catch (err) {
-			logger.error(`Plugin path ${pluginPath} does not exist, not loading ${pluginName}`);
+		} catch {
+			let errMsg = `Plugin path ${pluginPath} does not exist`;
+			try {
+				await fs.access(pluginPath, fs.constants.F_OK);
+				errMsg = `Plugin path ${pluginPath} missing index or main file`;
+			} catch {}
+			logger.error(`${errMsg}, not loading ${pluginName}`);
 			pluginList.delete(pluginName);
 			continue;
 		}
diff --git a/test/lib/plugin_loader.js b/test/lib/plugin_loader.js
index 308e3716..f8e275e7 100644
--- a/test/lib/plugin_loader.js
+++ b/test/lib/plugin_loader.js
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@ const path = require("path");
 
 const lib = require("@clusterio/lib");
 const { BaseControllerPlugin } = require("@clusterio/controller");
-const { escapeRegExp } = lib;
 
 
 describe("lib/plugin_loader", function() {
@@ -34,7 +33,10 @@ describe("lib/plugin_loader", function() {
 		});
 
 		it("should ignore missing plugins", async function() {
-			const result = await lib.loadPluginInfos(new Map([["missing", missingPlugin]]), []);
+			const result = await lib.loadPluginInfos(new Map([
+				["missing", path.resolve(missingPlugin)],
+				["no_index", path.resolve(baseDir)],
+			]), []);
 			assert.deepEqual(result, []);
 		});
 		it("should load test plugin", async function() {
@@ -46,7 +48,6 @@ describe("lib/plugin_loader", function() {
 		it("should reject on broken plugin", async function() {
 			let brokenMessage;
 			try {
-
 				require(path.resolve(brokenPlugin));
 			} catch (err) {
 				brokenMessage = err.message;