diff --git a/lib/sugar/activity/activity.py b/lib/sugar/activity/activity.py
index 14cadd76..55000f3b 100644
--- a/lib/sugar/activity/activity.py
+++ b/lib/sugar/activity/activity.py
@@ -683,7 +683,7 @@ class Activity(Window, gtk.Container):
             if self._jobject.file_path:
                 self.write_file(self._jobject.file_path)
             else:
-                file_path = os.path.join(self.get_activity_root(), 'tmp',
+                file_path = os.path.join(self.get_activity_root(), 'data',
                                          '%i' % time.time())
                 self.write_file(file_path)
                 self._owns_file = True
diff --git a/lib/sugar/activity/activityfactory.py b/lib/sugar/activity/activityfactory.py
index 39ebebc4..cd75edd2 100644
--- a/lib/sugar/activity/activityfactory.py
+++ b/lib/sugar/activity/activityfactory.py
@@ -79,7 +79,16 @@ def get_environment(activity):
     environ = os.environ.copy()
 
     bin_path = os.path.join(activity.path, 'bin')
+
     activity_root = env.get_profile_path(activity.bundle_id)
+    if not os.path.exists(activity_root):
+        os.mkdir(activity_root)
+
+        data_dir = os.path.join(activity_root, 'data')
+        os.mkdir(data_dir)
+
+        tmp_dir = os.path.join(activity_root, 'tmp')
+        os.mkdir(tmp_dir)
 
     environ['SUGAR_BUNDLE_PATH'] = activity.path
     environ['SUGAR_ACTIVITY_ROOT'] = activity_root