diff --git a/atom/common/lib/asar.coffee b/atom/common/lib/asar.coffee
index f7eeceb3f3..2373385f75 100644
--- a/atom/common/lib/asar.coffee
+++ b/atom/common/lib/asar.coffee
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ process.on 'exit', ->
 
 # Separate asar package's path from full path.
 splitPath = (p) ->
+  return [false] if process.noAsar  # shortcut to disable asar.
   return [false] if typeof p isnt 'string'
   return [true, p, ''] if p.substr(-5) is '.asar'
   p = path.normalize p
diff --git a/docs/api/process.md b/docs/api/process.md
index 22fe452b0c..620ad6dc93 100644
--- a/docs/api/process.md
+++ b/docs/api/process.md
@@ -31,11 +31,18 @@ process.once('loaded', function() {
 });
 ```
 
+## Properties
+
+### `process.noAsar`
+
+Setting this to `true` can disable the support for `asar` archives in Node's
+built-in modules.
+
 ## Methods
 
 The `process` object has the following method:
 
-### `process.hang`
+### `process.hang()`
 
 Causes the main thread of the current process hang.
 
diff --git a/docs/tutorial/application-packaging.md b/docs/tutorial/application-packaging.md
index c6e0ae3c41..b42a2f9298 100644
--- a/docs/tutorial/application-packaging.md
+++ b/docs/tutorial/application-packaging.md
@@ -103,6 +103,14 @@ var originalFs = require('original-fs');
 originalFs.readFileSync('/path/to/example.asar');
 ```
 
+You can also set `process.noAsar` to `true` to disable the support for `asar` in
+the `fs` module:
+
+```javascript
+process.noAsar = true;
+fs.readFileSync('/path/to/example.asar');
+```
+
 ## Limitations on Node API
 
 Even though we tried hard to make `asar` archives in the Node API work like
diff --git a/spec/asar-spec.coffee b/spec/asar-spec.coffee
index af39fa3ec5..b7a62f8eea 100644
--- a/spec/asar-spec.coffee
+++ b/spec/asar-spec.coffee
@@ -423,6 +423,41 @@ describe 'asar package', ->
         p = path.join fixtures, 'asar', 'unpack.asar', 'a.txt'
         assert.equal internalModuleReadFile(p).toString().trim(), 'a'
 
+    describe 'process.noAsar', ->
+      beforeEach ->
+        process.noAsar = true
+      afterEach ->
+        process.noAsar = false
+
+      it 'disables asar support in sync API', ->
+        file = path.join fixtures, 'asar', 'a.asar', 'file1'
+        dir = path.join fixtures, 'asar', 'a.asar', 'dir1'
+        assert.throws (-> fs.readFileSync file), /ENOTDIR/
+        assert.throws (-> fs.lstatSync file), /ENOTDIR/
+        assert.throws (-> fs.realpathSync file), /ENOTDIR/
+        assert.throws (-> fs.readdirSync dir), /ENOTDIR/
+
+      it 'disables asar support in async API', (done) ->
+        file = path.join fixtures, 'asar', 'a.asar', 'file1'
+        dir = path.join fixtures, 'asar', 'a.asar', 'dir1'
+        fs.readFile file, (error) ->
+          assert.equal error.code, 'ENOTDIR'
+          fs.lstat file, (error) ->
+            assert.equal error.code, 'ENOTDIR'
+            fs.realpath file, (error) ->
+              assert.equal error.code, 'ENOTDIR'
+              fs.readdir dir, (error) ->
+                assert.equal error.code, 'ENOTDIR'
+                done()
+
+      it 'treats *.asar as normal file', ->
+        originalFs = require 'original-fs'
+        asar = path.join fixtures, 'asar', 'a.asar'
+        content1 = fs.readFileSync asar
+        content2 = originalFs.readFileSync asar
+        assert.equal content1.compare(content2), 0
+        assert.throws (-> fs.readdirSync asar), /ENOTDIR/
+
   describe 'asar protocol', ->
     url = require 'url'