diff --git a/src/listing.rs b/src/listing.rs
index 66aea6b69..b9e9437e1 100644
--- a/src/listing.rs
+++ b/src/listing.rs
@@ -162,6 +162,7 @@ pub fn directory_listing(
     dirs_first: bool,
     hide_version_footer: bool,
     title: Option<String>,
+    index: Option<PathBuf>,
 ) -> Result<ServiceResponse, io::Error> {
     use actix_web::dev::BodyEncoding;
     let serve_path = req.path();
@@ -246,6 +247,22 @@ pub fn directory_listing(
         return Ok(ServiceResponse::new(req.clone(), res));
     }
 
+    // Serve index file. If it doesn't exist, ignore and list content.
+    if let Some(index_path) = index {
+        if let Ok(index_file) = actix_files::NamedFile::open(dir.path.join(index_path)) {
+            let res = match index_file.into_response(req) {
+                Ok(res) => res,
+                Err(err) => {
+                    log::error!("Error while serving index file: {:?}", err);
+                    HttpResponse::InternalServerError().body(Body::Empty)
+                }
+            };
+            return Ok(ServiceResponse::new(req.clone(), res));
+        } else {
+            log::warn!("Index file could not be found for {}", serve_path);
+        }
+    }
+
     let mut entries: Vec<Entry> = Vec::new();
 
     for entry in dir.path.read_dir()? {
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index 84a4cb8ee..7390c1e8f 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ use actix_web::{
 use actix_web::{middleware, App, HttpRequest, HttpResponse};
 use actix_web_httpauth::middleware::HttpAuthentication;
 use http::header::HeaderMap;
-use log::{error, warn};
+use log::warn;
 use structopt::clap::crate_version;
 use structopt::StructOpt;
 use yansi::{Color, Paint};
@@ -250,15 +250,6 @@ async fn run(miniserve_config: MiniserveConfig) -> Result<(), ContextualError> {
         ContextualError::IoError("Failed to resolve path to be served".to_string(), e)
     })?;
 
-    if let Some(index_path) = &miniserve_config.index {
-        let has_index: std::path::PathBuf = [&canon_path, index_path].iter().collect();
-        if !has_index.exists() {
-            error!(
-                "The file '{}' provided for option --index could not be found.",
-                index_path.to_string_lossy()
-            );
-        }
-    }
     let path_string = canon_path.to_string_lossy();
 
     println!(
@@ -415,6 +406,7 @@ fn configure_app(app: &mut web::ServiceConfig, conf: &MiniserveConfig) {
         let dirs_first = conf.dirs_first;
         let hide_version_footer = conf.hide_version_footer;
         let title = conf.title.clone();
+        let index = conf.index.clone();
         upload_route = if let Some(random_route) = conf.random_route.clone() {
             format!("/{}/upload", random_route)
         } else {
@@ -422,10 +414,6 @@ fn configure_app(app: &mut web::ServiceConfig, conf: &MiniserveConfig) {
         };
         if path.is_file() {
             None
-        } else if let Some(index_file) = &conf.index {
-            Some(
-                actix_files::Files::new(&full_route, path).index_file(index_file.to_string_lossy()),
-            )
         } else {
             let u_r = upload_route.clone();
             let files;
@@ -457,6 +445,7 @@ fn configure_app(app: &mut web::ServiceConfig, conf: &MiniserveConfig) {
                         dirs_first,
                         hide_version_footer,
                         title.clone(),
+                        index.clone(),
                     )
                 })
                 .default_handler(web::to(error_404));
diff --git a/tests/serve_request.rs b/tests/serve_request.rs
index 6477bc230..21d3521dc 100644
--- a/tests/serve_request.rs
+++ b/tests/serve_request.rs
@@ -177,10 +177,21 @@ fn serves_requests_with_randomly_assigned_port(tmpdir: TempDir) -> Result<(), Er
     Ok(())
 }
 
-#[rstest]
-fn serves_requests_custom_index_notice(tmpdir: TempDir, port: u16) -> Result<(), Error> {
+#[rstest(
+    index,
+    exists,
+    case(FILES[0], true),
+    case("not.html", false),
+)]
+fn serves_requests_custom_index_notice(
+    tmpdir: TempDir,
+    port: u16,
+    index: &str,
+    exists: bool,
+) -> Result<(), Error> {
     let mut child = Command::cargo_bin("miniserve")?
-        .arg("--index=not.html")
+        .arg(format!("--index={}", index))
+        .arg("--verbose")
         .arg("-p")
         .arg(port.to_string())
         .arg(tmpdir.path())
@@ -190,13 +201,16 @@ fn serves_requests_custom_index_notice(tmpdir: TempDir, port: u16) -> Result<(),
 
     sleep(Duration::from_secs(1));
 
+    reqwest::blocking::get(format!("http://localhost:{}", port).as_str())?.error_for_status()?;
+
     child.kill()?;
     let output = child.wait_with_output().expect("Failed to read stdout");
-    let all_text = String::from_utf8(output.stderr);
+    let all_text = String::from_utf8(output.stdout);
 
-    assert!(all_text
-        .unwrap()
-        .contains("The file 'not.html' provided for option --index could not be found."));
+    assert_ne!(
+        exists,
+        all_text.unwrap().contains("Index file could not be found")
+    );
 
     Ok(())
 }