diff --git a/letsencrypt-apache/letsencrypt_apache/configurator.py b/letsencrypt-apache/letsencrypt_apache/configurator.py
index 0c4d65c28..72db9c853 100644
--- a/letsencrypt-apache/letsencrypt_apache/configurator.py
+++ b/letsencrypt-apache/letsencrypt_apache/configurator.py
@@ -184,6 +184,7 @@ class ApacheConfigurator(augeas_configurator.AugeasConfigurator):
             matches = self.aug.match(
                 "/test//*[self::arg=~regexp('argument', 'i')]")
         except RuntimeError:
+            self.aug.remove("/test/path")
             return None
         self.aug.remove("/test/path")
         return matches