diff --git a/extensions/extension-editing/src/extensionLinter.ts b/extensions/extension-editing/src/extensionLinter.ts
index 0e486252598..04b0521c591 100644
--- a/extensions/extension-editing/src/extensionLinter.ts
+++ b/extensions/extension-editing/src/extensionLinter.ts
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@
  *  Licensed under the MIT License. See License.txt in the project root for license information.
  *--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------*/
 
-import * as fs from 'fs';
 import * as path from 'path';
 
 import * as nls from 'vscode-nls';
@@ -265,12 +264,12 @@ export class ExtensionLinter {
 
 	private async loadPackageJson(folder: Uri) {
 		const file = folder.with({ path: path.posix.join(folder.path, 'package.json') });
-		const exists = await fileExists(file.fsPath);
-		if (!exists) {
+		try {
+			const document = await workspace.openTextDocument(file);
+			return parseTree(document.getText());
+		} catch (err) {
 			return undefined;
 		}
-		const document = await workspace.openTextDocument(file);
-		return parseTree(document.getText());
 	}
 
 	private packageJsonChanged(folder: Uri) {
@@ -338,20 +337,6 @@ function endsWith(haystack: string, needle: string): boolean {
 	}
 }
 
-function fileExists(path: string): Promise<boolean> {
-	return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
-		fs.lstat(path, (err, stats) => {
-			if (!err) {
-				resolve(true);
-			} else if (err.code === 'ENOENT') {
-				resolve(false);
-			} else {
-				reject(err);
-			}
-		});
-	});
-}
-
 function parseUri(src: string) {
 	try {
 		return Uri.parse(src);