diff --git a/easycloud/core/metaconfmanager.py b/easycloud/core/metaconfmanager.py
index 69ffb10cfd7712bbbfbf8dcfcfe0471262d7ad53..19339e42abdf1ecfc56c0170973ee08f1e054e40 100755
--- a/easycloud/core/metaconfmanager.py
+++ b/easycloud/core/metaconfmanager.py
@@ -24,7 +24,8 @@ class MetaConfManager(ABC):
         else:
             self._config_file = config_file
 
-        self.parser.read(open(self._config_file, "r"))
+        # NOTE: this will raise an error if the configuration file does not exist
+        self.parser.read_file(open(self._config_file, "r"))
 
         self.read_login_data()
         self.read_platform_options()