diff --git a/scm-server/src/main/assembly/WORKDIR.txt b/scm-server/src/main/assembly/WORKDIR.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..9538e4852b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scm-server/src/main/assembly/WORKDIR.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+This directory is the temp directory for the SCM-Manager webapp.
+
+Further reading on jetty temp directories:
+
+- http://wiki.eclipse.org/Jetty/Reference/Temporary_Directories
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/scm-server/src/main/assembly/scm-server-app.xml b/scm-server/src/main/assembly/scm-server-app.xml
index 5fc3f8a64b..eee74ca443 100644
--- a/scm-server/src/main/assembly/scm-server-app.xml
+++ b/scm-server/src/main/assembly/scm-server-app.xml
@@ -92,6 +92,16 @@
       <destName>logging.xml</destName>
     </file>
     
+    <!--
+      create work directory, see
+      https://bitbucket.org/sdorra/scm-manager/issue/464/scmserver-login-page-fails-to-render
+    -->
+    
+    <file>
+      <source>src/main/assembly/WORKDIR.txt</source>
+      <outputDirectory>work</outputDirectory>
+    </file>
+    
   </files>
   
 </assembly>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/scm-server/src/main/conf/server-config.xml b/scm-server/src/main/conf/server-config.xml
index 12c70c0c76..f55553ab45 100644
--- a/scm-server/src/main/conf/server-config.xml
+++ b/scm-server/src/main/conf/server-config.xml
@@ -69,6 +69,9 @@
       <Arg>org.eclipse.jetty.servlet.Default.dirAllowed</Arg>
       <Arg>false</Arg>
     </Call>
+    <Set name="tempDirectory">
+      <SystemProperty name="basedir" default="."/>/work
+    </Set>
   </New>
 
   <New id="docroot" class="org.eclipse.jetty.webapp.WebAppContext">
@@ -82,6 +85,9 @@
         </Arg>
       </New>
     </Set>
+    <Set name="tempDirectory">
+      <SystemProperty name="basedir" default="."/>/work
+    </Set>
   </New>
   
   <Set name="handler">