diff --git src/java/org/apache/nutch/plugin/PluginManifestParser.java src/java/org/apache/nutch/plugin/PluginManifestParser.java
index 147adbc..fe8d869 100644
--- src/java/org/apache/nutch/plugin/PluginManifestParser.java
+++ src/java/org/apache/nutch/plugin/PluginManifestParser.java
@@ -134,6 +134,9 @@ public class PluginManifestParser {
       } catch (UnsupportedEncodingException e) {
       }
       directory = new File(path);
+    } else if (!directory.exists()) {
+      LOG.warn("Plugins: directory not found: " + name);
+      return null;
     }
     return directory;
   }
diff --git src/java/org/apache/nutch/plugin/PluginRepository.java src/java/org/apache/nutch/plugin/PluginRepository.java
index 1bbe1be..0c272a5 100644
--- src/java/org/apache/nutch/plugin/PluginRepository.java
+++ src/java/org/apache/nutch/plugin/PluginRepository.java
@@ -74,6 +74,10 @@ public class PluginRepository {
     PluginManifestParser manifestParser = new PluginManifestParser(this.conf, this);
     Map<String, PluginDescriptor> allPlugins = manifestParser
         .parsePluginFolder(pluginFolders);
+    if (allPlugins.isEmpty()) {
+      LOG.warn("No plugins found on paths of property plugin.folders=\"{}\"",
+          conf.get("plugin.folders"));
+    }
     Pattern excludes = Pattern.compile(conf.get("plugin.excludes", ""));
     Pattern includes = Pattern.compile(conf.get("plugin.includes", ""));
     Map<String, PluginDescriptor> filteredPlugins = filter(excludes, includes,