diff --git a/sddmauthhelper.cpp b/sddmauthhelper.cpp
--- a/sddmauthhelper.cpp
+++ b/sddmauthhelper.cpp
@@ -39,6 +39,12 @@
 
 static QSharedPointer<KConfig> openConfig(const QString &filePath)
 {
+    // if the sddm.conf.d folder doesn't exist we fail to set the right permissions for kde_settings.conf
+    QFileInfo fileLocation(filePath);
+    QDir dir(fileLocation.absolutePath());
+    if (!dir.exists()) {
+        QDir().mkpath(dir.path());
+    }
     QFile file(filePath);
     if(!file.exists()) {
         // If we are creating the config file, ensure it is world-readable: if