diff --git a/electrum/gui/qt/__init__.py b/electrum/gui/qt/__init__.py
index 786e661fd..a1cfd6a1f 100644
--- a/electrum/gui/qt/__init__.py
+++ b/electrum/gui/qt/__init__.py
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@
 try:
     import PyQt5
     import PyQt5.QtGui
-except Exception:
+except Exception as e:
     raise GuiImportError(
         "Error: Could not import PyQt5 on Linux systems, "
         "you may try 'sudo apt-get install python3-pyqt5'") from e
diff --git a/electrum/simple_config.py b/electrum/simple_config.py
index 51e54f003..86fc829df 100644
--- a/electrum/simple_config.py
+++ b/electrum/simple_config.py
@@ -292,6 +292,13 @@ def get_wallet_path(self, *, use_gui_last_wallet=False):
 
         return new_path
 
+    def get_fallback_wallet_path(self):
+        util.assert_datadir_available(self.path)
+        dirpath = os.path.join(self.path, "wallets")
+        make_dir(dirpath, allow_symlink=False)
+        path = os.path.join(self.path, "wallets", "default_wallet")
+        return path
+
     def remove_from_recently_open(self, filename):
         recent = self.get('recently_open', [])
         if filename in recent: