diff --git a/Core/src/org/sleuthkit/autopsy/ingest/IngestTasksScheduler.java b/Core/src/org/sleuthkit/autopsy/ingest/IngestTasksScheduler.java
index 0c3647dd16..57da5330c0 100644
--- a/Core/src/org/sleuthkit/autopsy/ingest/IngestTasksScheduler.java
+++ b/Core/src/org/sleuthkit/autopsy/ingest/IngestTasksScheduler.java
@@ -451,7 +451,11 @@ final class IngestTasksScheduler {
             boolean isInRootDir = false;
             try {
                 AbstractFile parent = f.getParentDirectory();
-                isInRootDir = parent.isRoot();
+                if (parent == null) {
+                    isInRootDir = true;
+                } else {
+                    isInRootDir = parent.isRoot();
+                }
             } catch (TskCoreException ex) {
                 logger.log(Level.WARNING, "Error querying parent directory for" + f.getName(), ex); //NON-NLS
             }
diff --git a/Experimental/src/org/sleuthkit/autopsy/experimental/autoingest/FileExporter.java b/Experimental/src/org/sleuthkit/autopsy/experimental/autoingest/FileExporter.java
index f129635f95..56191def15 100644
--- a/Experimental/src/org/sleuthkit/autopsy/experimental/autoingest/FileExporter.java
+++ b/Experimental/src/org/sleuthkit/autopsy/experimental/autoingest/FileExporter.java
@@ -398,7 +398,12 @@ final class FileExporter {
              * Is the NTFS or FAT file in the root directory?
              */
             AbstractFile parent = file.getParentDirectory();
-            boolean isInRootDir = parent.isRoot();
+            boolean isInRootDir;
+            if (parent == null) {
+                isInRootDir = true;
+            } else {
+                isInRootDir = parent.isRoot();
+            }
 
             /*
              * Check its meta-address and check its name for the '$' character