diff --git a/PHPCI/Controller/ProjectController.php b/PHPCI/Controller/ProjectController.php
index b02e4f0c..38986c59 100644
--- a/PHPCI/Controller/ProjectController.php
+++ b/PHPCI/Controller/ProjectController.php
@@ -163,9 +163,9 @@ class ProjectController extends \PHPCI\Controller
             $sshKey = new SshKey();
             $key = $sshKey->generate();
 
-            $values['key']    = isset($key['private_key']) ? $key['private_key'] : '';
-            $values['pubkey'] = isset($key['public_key'])  ? $key['public_key']  : '';
-            $pub              = isset($key['public_key'])  ? $key['public_key']  : '';
+            $values['key']    = $key['private_key'];
+            $values['pubkey'] = $key['public_key'];
+            $pub = $key['public_key'];
         }
 
         $form = $this->projectForm($values);
diff --git a/PHPCI/Helper/SshKey.php b/PHPCI/Helper/SshKey.php
index 4c625ff4..087b0ed3 100644
--- a/PHPCI/Helper/SshKey.php
+++ b/PHPCI/Helper/SshKey.php
@@ -37,6 +37,14 @@ class SshKey
             $pub = file_get_contents($keyFile . '.pub');
             $prv = file_get_contents($keyFile);
 
+            if (empty($pub)) {
+                $pub = '';
+            }
+
+            if (empty($prv)) {
+                $prv = '';
+            }
+
             $return = array('private_key' => $prv, 'public_key' => $pub);
         }