diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index d987225..af54045 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 # 1.0.2-dev
 
 - Require Dart SDK >= 2.14
+- Ensure `DirectoryWatcher.ready` completes even when errors occur that close the watcher.
 
 # 1.0.1
 
diff --git a/lib/src/directory_watcher/linux.dart b/lib/src/directory_watcher/linux.dart
index 1bf5efd..dafaeb1 100644
--- a/lib/src/directory_watcher/linux.dart
+++ b/lib/src/directory_watcher/linux.dart
@@ -82,20 +82,32 @@ class _LinuxDirectoryWatcher
 
     // Batch the inotify changes together so that we can dedup events.
     var innerStream = _nativeEvents.stream.batchEvents();
-    _listen(innerStream, _onBatch, onError: _eventsController.addError);
-
-    _listen(Directory(path).list(recursive: true), (FileSystemEntity entity) {
-      if (entity is Directory) {
-        _watchSubdir(entity.path);
-      } else {
-        _files.add(entity.path);
+    _listen(innerStream, _onBatch,
+        onError: (Object error, StackTrace stackTrace) {
+      // Guarantee that ready always completes.
+      if (!isReady) {
+        _readyCompleter.complete();
       }
-    }, onError: (Object error, StackTrace stackTrace) {
       _eventsController.addError(error, stackTrace);
-      close();
-    }, onDone: () {
-      _readyCompleter.complete();
-    }, cancelOnError: true);
+    });
+
+    _listen(
+      Directory(path).list(recursive: true),
+      (FileSystemEntity entity) {
+        if (entity is Directory) {
+          _watchSubdir(entity.path);
+        } else {
+          _files.add(entity.path);
+        }
+      },
+      onError: _emitError,
+      onDone: () {
+        if (!isReady) {
+          _readyCompleter.complete();
+        }
+      },
+      cancelOnError: true,
+    );
   }
 
   @override
@@ -195,15 +207,15 @@ class _LinuxDirectoryWatcher
       // contents,
       if (files.contains(path) && _files.contains(path)) continue;
       for (var file in _files.remove(path)) {
-        _emit(ChangeType.REMOVE, file);
+        _emitEvent(ChangeType.REMOVE, file);
       }
     }
 
     for (var file in files) {
       if (_files.contains(file)) {
-        _emit(ChangeType.MODIFY, file);
+        _emitEvent(ChangeType.MODIFY, file);
       } else {
-        _emit(ChangeType.ADD, file);
+        _emitEvent(ChangeType.ADD, file);
         _files.add(file);
       }
     }
@@ -221,15 +233,14 @@ class _LinuxDirectoryWatcher
         _watchSubdir(entity.path);
       } else {
         _files.add(entity.path);
-        _emit(ChangeType.ADD, entity.path);
+        _emitEvent(ChangeType.ADD, entity.path);
       }
     }, onError: (Object error, StackTrace stackTrace) {
       // Ignore an exception caused by the dir not existing. It's fine if it
       // was added and then quickly removed.
       if (error is FileSystemException) return;
 
-      _eventsController.addError(error, stackTrace);
-      close();
+      _emitError(error, stackTrace);
     }, cancelOnError: true);
   }
 
@@ -242,7 +253,7 @@ class _LinuxDirectoryWatcher
     // caused by a MOVE, we need to manually emit events.
     if (isReady) {
       for (var file in _files.paths) {
-        _emit(ChangeType.REMOVE, file);
+        _emitEvent(ChangeType.REMOVE, file);
       }
     }
 
@@ -251,12 +262,22 @@ class _LinuxDirectoryWatcher
 
   /// Emits a [WatchEvent] with [type] and [path] if this watcher is in a state
   /// to emit events.
-  void _emit(ChangeType type, String path) {
+  void _emitEvent(ChangeType type, String path) {
     if (!isReady) return;
     if (_eventsController.isClosed) return;
     _eventsController.add(WatchEvent(type, path));
   }
 
+  /// Emit an error, then close the watcher.
+  void _emitError(Object error, StackTrace stackTrace) {
+    // Guarantee that ready always completes.
+    if (!isReady) {
+      _readyCompleter.complete();
+    }
+    _eventsController.addError(error, stackTrace);
+    close();
+  }
+
   /// Like [Stream.listen], but automatically adds the subscription to
   /// [_subscriptions] so that it can be canceled when [close] is called.
   void _listen<T>(Stream<T> stream, void Function(T) onData,
diff --git a/lib/src/directory_watcher/mac_os.dart b/lib/src/directory_watcher/mac_os.dart
index 2046ce0..12648c8 100644
--- a/lib/src/directory_watcher/mac_os.dart
+++ b/lib/src/directory_watcher/mac_os.dart
@@ -87,8 +87,11 @@ class _MacOSDirectoryWatcher
     //
     // If we do receive a batch of events, [_onBatch] will ensure that these
     // futures don't fire and that the directory is re-listed.
-    Future.wait([_listDir(), _waitForBogusEvents()])
-        .then((_) => _readyCompleter.complete());
+    Future.wait([_listDir(), _waitForBogusEvents()]).then((_) {
+      if (!isReady) {
+        _readyCompleter.complete();
+      }
+    });
   }
 
   @override
@@ -115,7 +118,11 @@ class _MacOSDirectoryWatcher
       // Cancel the timer because bogus events only occur in the first batch, so
       // we can fire [ready] as soon as we're done listing the directory.
       _bogusEventTimer.cancel();
-      _listDir().then((_) => _readyCompleter.complete());
+      _listDir().then((_) {
+        if (!isReady) {
+          _readyCompleter.complete();
+        }
+      });
       return;
     }
 
@@ -396,6 +403,10 @@ class _MacOSDirectoryWatcher
 
   /// Emit an error, then close the watcher.
   void _emitError(Object error, StackTrace stackTrace) {
+    // Guarantee that ready always completes.
+    if (!isReady) {
+      _readyCompleter.complete();
+    }
     _eventsController.addError(error, stackTrace);
     close();
   }
diff --git a/lib/src/directory_watcher/polling.dart b/lib/src/directory_watcher/polling.dart
index 2a43937..3dcec05 100644
--- a/lib/src/directory_watcher/polling.dart
+++ b/lib/src/directory_watcher/polling.dart
@@ -43,11 +43,11 @@ class _PollingDirectoryWatcher
   final _events = StreamController<WatchEvent>.broadcast();
 
   @override
-  bool get isReady => _ready.isCompleted;
+  bool get isReady => _readyCompleter.isCompleted;
 
   @override
-  Future<void> get ready => _ready.future;
-  final _ready = Completer<void>();
+  Future<void> get ready => _readyCompleter.future;
+  final _readyCompleter = Completer<void>();
 
   /// The amount of time the watcher pauses between successive polls of the
   /// directory contents.
@@ -119,6 +119,10 @@ class _PollingDirectoryWatcher
       if (entity is! File) return;
       _filesToProcess.add(entity.path);
     }, onError: (Object error, StackTrace stackTrace) {
+      // Guarantee that ready always completes.
+      if (!isReady) {
+        _readyCompleter.complete();
+      }
       if (!isDirectoryNotFoundException(error)) {
         // It's some unknown error. Pipe it over to the event stream so the
         // user can see it.
@@ -177,7 +181,7 @@ class _PollingDirectoryWatcher
       _lastModifieds.remove(removed);
     }
 
-    if (!isReady) _ready.complete();
+    if (!isReady) _readyCompleter.complete();
 
     // Wait and then poll again.
     await Future.delayed(_pollingDelay);
diff --git a/lib/src/directory_watcher/windows.dart b/lib/src/directory_watcher/windows.dart
index 09b4b36..710caf5 100644
--- a/lib/src/directory_watcher/windows.dart
+++ b/lib/src/directory_watcher/windows.dart
@@ -92,7 +92,9 @@ class _WindowsDirectoryWatcher
     _listDir().then((_) {
       _startWatch();
       _startParentWatcher();
-      _readyCompleter.complete();
+      if (!isReady) {
+        _readyCompleter.complete();
+      }
     });
   }
 
@@ -427,6 +429,10 @@ class _WindowsDirectoryWatcher
 
   /// Emit an error, then close the watcher.
   void _emitError(Object error, StackTrace stackTrace) {
+    // Guarantee that ready always completes.
+    if (!isReady) {
+      _readyCompleter.complete();
+    }
     _eventsController.addError(error, stackTrace);
     close();
   }
diff --git a/lib/src/utils.dart b/lib/src/utils.dart
index ecf4e10..c2e71b3 100644
--- a/lib/src/utils.dart
+++ b/lib/src/utils.dart
@@ -3,8 +3,8 @@
 // BSD-style license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
 
 import 'dart:async';
-import 'dart:io';
 import 'dart:collection';
+import 'dart:io';
 
 /// Returns `true` if [error] is a [FileSystemException] for a missing
 /// directory.
diff --git a/lib/watcher.dart b/lib/watcher.dart
index 22e0d6e..12a5369 100644
--- a/lib/watcher.dart
+++ b/lib/watcher.dart
@@ -42,6 +42,9 @@ abstract class Watcher {
   ///
   /// If the watcher is already monitoring, this returns an already complete
   /// future.
+  ///
+  /// This future always completes successfully as errors are provided through
+  /// the [events] stream.
   Future get ready;
 
   /// Creates a new [DirectoryWatcher] or [FileWatcher] monitoring [path],
diff --git a/test/ready/shared.dart b/test/ready/shared.dart
index b6b3cce..6578c52 100644
--- a/test/ready/shared.dart
+++ b/test/ready/shared.dart
@@ -61,4 +61,17 @@ void sharedTests() {
     // Should be back to not ready.
     expect(watcher.ready, doesNotComplete);
   });
+
+  test('completes even if directory does not exist', () async {
+    var watcher = createWatcher(path: 'does/not/exist');
+
+    // Subscribe to the events (else ready will never fire).
+    var subscription = watcher.events.listen((event) {}, onError: (error) {});
+
+    // Expect ready still completes.
+    await watcher.ready;
+
+    // Now unsubscribe.
+    await subscription.cancel();
+  });
 }