diff --git a/Assistant/Sync.hs b/Assistant/Sync.hs
index fe4fda8960..43f0309fe1 100644
--- a/Assistant/Sync.hs
+++ b/Assistant/Sync.hs
@@ -51,10 +51,12 @@ import Control.Concurrent
 reconnectRemotes :: Bool -> [Remote] -> Assistant ()
 reconnectRemotes _ [] = noop
 reconnectRemotes notifypushes rs = void $ do
-	modifyDaemonStatus_ $ \s -> s
-		{ desynced = S.union (S.fromList $ map Remote.uuid xmppremotes) (desynced s) }
-	void $ syncAction rs (const go)
-	mapM_ signal rs
+	rs' <- filterM (checkavailable . Remote.repo) rs
+	unless (null rs') $ do
+		modifyDaemonStatus_ $ \s -> s
+			{ desynced = S.union (S.fromList $ map Remote.uuid xmppremotes) (desynced s) }
+		failedrs <- syncAction rs' (const go)
+		mapM_ signal $ filter (`notElem` failedrs) rs'
   where
 	gitremotes = filter (notspecialremote . Remote.repo) rs
 	(xmppremotes, nonxmppremotes) = partition isXMPPRemote rs
@@ -80,6 +82,10 @@ reconnectRemotes notifypushes rs = void $ do
 	signal r = liftIO . mapM_ (flip tryPutMVar ())
 		=<< fromMaybe [] . M.lookup (Remote.uuid r) . connectRemoteNotifiers
 			<$> getDaemonStatus
+	checkavailable r
+		| Git.repoIsLocal r || Git.repoIsLocalUnknown r =
+			liftIO $ doesDirectoryExist $ Git.repoPath r
+		| otherwise = return True
 
 {- Updates the local sync branch, then pushes it to all remotes, in
  - parallel, along with the git-annex branch. This is the same