diff --git a/CHANGES/555.bugfix b/CHANGES/555.bugfix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..043436e41
--- /dev/null
+++ b/CHANGES/555.bugfix
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Fixed 500 during image pull when content is missing on the FS.
diff --git a/pulp_container/app/registry.py b/pulp_container/app/registry.py
index ebfef1707..8f0658bde 100644
--- a/pulp_container/app/registry.py
+++ b/pulp_container/app/registry.py
@@ -62,17 +62,16 @@ async def _dispatch(file, headers):
             The :class:`aiohttp.web.FileResponse` for the file.
 
         """
+        path = os.path.join(settings.MEDIA_ROOT, file.name)
+        if not os.path.exists(path):
+            log.warning(f"Expected path {path} is not found")
+            raise PathNotResolved(path)
+
         full_headers = MultiDict()
 
         full_headers["Content-Type"] = headers["Content-Type"]
         full_headers["Docker-Content-Digest"] = headers["Docker-Content-Digest"]
         full_headers["Docker-Distribution-API-Version"] = "registry/2.0"
-        full_headers["Content-Length"] = str(file.size)
-        full_headers["Content-Disposition"] = "attachment; filename={n}".format(
-            n=os.path.basename(file.name)
-        )
-
-        path = os.path.join(settings.MEDIA_ROOT, file.name)
         file_response = web.FileResponse(path, headers=full_headers)
         return file_response
 
diff --git a/pulp_container/app/schema_convert.py b/pulp_container/app/schema_convert.py
index cd3a4cf89..ff0aff952 100644
--- a/pulp_container/app/schema_convert.py
+++ b/pulp_container/app/schema_convert.py
@@ -323,4 +323,7 @@ def _get_manifest_dict(manifest):
 
 
 def _get_dict(artifact):
-    return json.load(artifact.file)
+    try:
+        return json.load(artifact.file)
+    except FileNotFoundError:
+        raise RuntimeError()