diff --git a/lib/browser/rpc-server.js b/lib/browser/rpc-server.js
index 19e3e7edb7d1..5784d2fd31e9 100644
--- a/lib/browser/rpc-server.js
+++ b/lib/browser/rpc-server.js
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 const {Buffer} = require('buffer')
 const electron = require('electron')
 const {EventEmitter} = require('events')
+const fs = require('fs')
 const v8Util = process.atomBinding('v8_util')
 
 const {ipcMain, isPromise, webContents} = electron
@@ -448,3 +449,23 @@ ipcMain.on('ELECTRON_BROWSER_WINDOW_CLOSE', function (event) {
   }
   event.returnValue = null
 })
+
+ipcMain.on('ELECTRON_BROWSER_SANDBOX_LOAD', function (event, preloadPath) {
+  let preloadSrc = null
+  let preloadError = null
+  if (preloadPath) {
+    try {
+      preloadSrc = fs.readFileSync(preloadPath).toString()
+    } catch (err) {
+      preloadError = {stack: err ? err.stack : (new Error(`Failed to load "${preloadPath}"`)).stack}
+    }
+  }
+  event.returnValue = {
+    preloadSrc: preloadSrc,
+    preloadError: preloadError,
+    webContentsId: event.sender.getId(),
+    platform: process.platform,
+    execPath: process.execPath,
+    env: process.env
+  }
+})
diff --git a/lib/renderer/api/remote.js b/lib/renderer/api/remote.js
index 15928d836c9e..e1f7156f1ce0 100644
--- a/lib/renderer/api/remote.js
+++ b/lib/renderer/api/remote.js
@@ -306,10 +306,13 @@ exports.getCurrentWebContents = () => {
 
 const CONTEXT_ARG = '--context-id='
 let initialContext = process.argv.find(arg => arg.startsWith(CONTEXT_ARG))
-if (initialContext) {
+if (process.webContentsId) {
+  // set by sandbox renderer init script
+  initialContext = process.webContentsId
+} else if (initialContext) {
   initialContext = parseInt(initialContext.substr(CONTEXT_ARG.length), 10)
 } else {
-  // In sandbox we need to pull this from remote
+  // if not available, pull from remote
   initialContext = exports.getCurrentWebContents().getId()
 }
 
diff --git a/lib/sandboxed_renderer/init.js b/lib/sandboxed_renderer/init.js
index 8a1e6a9477c3..55426db12252 100644
--- a/lib/sandboxed_renderer/init.js
+++ b/lib/sandboxed_renderer/init.js
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 /* eslint no-eval: "off" */
 /* global binding, preloadPath, Buffer */
 const events = require('events')
+const electron = require('electron')
 
 process.atomBinding = require('../common/atom-binding-setup')(binding.get, 'renderer')
 
@@ -20,19 +21,30 @@ for (let prop of Object.keys(events.EventEmitter.prototype)) {
 }
 Object.setPrototypeOf(process, events.EventEmitter.prototype)
 
-const electron = require('electron')
-const fs = require('fs')
-const preloadModules = new Map([
-  ['child_process', require('child_process')],
+const remoteModules = new Set([
+  'child_process',
+  'fs',
+  'os',
+  'path'
+])
+
+const loadedModules = new Map([
   ['electron', electron],
   ['events', events],
-  ['fs', fs],
-  ['os', require('os')],
-  ['path', require('path')],
-  ['url', require('url')],
-  ['timers', require('timers')]
+  ['timers', require('timers')],
+  ['url', require('url')]
 ])
 
+const {
+  preloadSrc, preloadError, webContentsId, platform, execPath, env
+} = electron.ipcRenderer.sendSync('ELECTRON_BROWSER_SANDBOX_LOAD', preloadPath)
+
+Object.defineProperty(process, 'webContentsId', {
+  configurable: false,
+  writable: false,
+  value: webContentsId
+})
+
 require('../renderer/web-frame-init')()
 
 // Pass different process object to the preload script(which should not have
@@ -43,15 +55,19 @@ preloadProcess.hang = () => binding.hang()
 preloadProcess.getProcessMemoryInfo = () => binding.getProcessMemoryInfo()
 preloadProcess.getSystemMemoryInfo = () => binding.getSystemMemoryInfo()
 preloadProcess.argv = binding.getArgv()
-process.platform = preloadProcess.platform = electron.remote.process.platform
-process.execPath = preloadProcess.execPath = electron.remote.process.execPath
-process.env = preloadProcess.env = electron.remote.process.env
+preloadProcess.platform = process.platform = platform
+preloadProcess.execPath = process.execPath = execPath
+preloadProcess.env = process.env = env
+
 process.on('exit', () => preloadProcess.emit('exit'))
 
 // This is the `require` function that will be visible to the preload script
 function preloadRequire (module) {
-  if (preloadModules.has(module)) {
-    return preloadModules.get(module)
+  if (loadedModules.has(module)) {
+    return loadedModules.get(module)
+  }
+  if (remoteModules.has(module)) {
+    return require(module)
   }
   throw new Error('module not found')
 }
@@ -80,9 +96,8 @@ if (window.location.protocol === 'chrome-devtools:') {
 // and any `require('electron')` calls in `preload.js` will work as expected
 // since browserify won't try to include `electron` in the bundle, falling back
 // to the `preloadRequire` function above.
-if (preloadPath) {
-  const preloadSrc = fs.readFileSync(preloadPath).toString()
-  const preloadWrapperSrc = `(function(require, process, Buffer, global, setImmediate) {
+if (preloadSrc) {
+  const preloadWrapperSrc = `(function(require, process, Buffer, global, setImmediate, clearImmediate) {
   ${preloadSrc}
   })`
 
@@ -90,6 +105,8 @@ if (preloadPath) {
   // http://www.ecma-international.org/ecma-262/5.1/#sec-10.4.2
   const geval = eval
   const preloadFn = geval(preloadWrapperSrc)
-  const {setImmediate} = require('timers')
-  preloadFn(preloadRequire, preloadProcess, Buffer, global, setImmediate)
+  const {setImmediate, clearImmediate} = require('timers')
+  preloadFn(preloadRequire, preloadProcess, Buffer, global, setImmediate, clearImmediate)
+} else if (preloadError) {
+  console.error(preloadError.stack)
 }