diff --git a/repos/os/src/app/rom_to_file/main.cc b/repos/os/src/app/rom_to_file/main.cc
index cc9b9b7ad0..542a454335 100644
--- a/repos/os/src/app/rom_to_file/main.cc
+++ b/repos/os/src/app/rom_to_file/main.cc
@@ -124,7 +124,11 @@ void Rom_to_file::Main::_handle_update()
 				Handle_guard dir_guard(_fs, dir_handle);
 				File_handle handle;
 
-				handle = _fs.file(dir_handle, file_name, File_system::WRITE_ONLY, true);
+				try {
+					handle = _fs.file(dir_handle, file_name, File_system::WRITE_ONLY, true);
+				} catch (Node_already_exists) {
+					handle = _fs.file(dir_handle, file_name, File_system::WRITE_ONLY, false);
+				}
 
 				_fs.truncate(handle, 0);
 
@@ -136,6 +140,7 @@ void Rom_to_file::Main::_handle_update()
 				}
 
 				_fs.close(handle);
+
 			} catch (Permission_denied) {
 				error(Cstring(dir_path), file_name, ": permission denied");