diff --git a/IPython/core/profiledir.py b/IPython/core/profiledir.py
index 2ebc5fe..7cae45b 100644
--- a/IPython/core/profiledir.py
+++ b/IPython/core/profiledir.py
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ Authors:
 import os
 import shutil
 import errno
+import time
 
 from IPython.config.configurable import LoggingConfigurable
 from IPython.utils.path import get_ipython_package_dir, expand_path
@@ -79,9 +80,17 @@ class ProfileDir(LoggingConfigurable):
         if self._location_isset:
             raise RuntimeError("Cannot set profile location more than once.")
         self._location_isset = True
-        if not os.path.isdir(new):
-            os.makedirs(new)
-        
+        num_tries = 0
+        max_tries = 5
+        while not os.path.isdir(new):
+            try:
+                os.makedirs(new)
+            except OSError:
+                if num_tries > max_tries:
+                    raise
+                num_tries += 1
+                time.sleep(0.5)
+
         # ensure config files exist:
         self.security_dir = os.path.join(new, self.security_dir_name)
         self.log_dir = os.path.join(new, self.log_dir_name)
@@ -92,12 +101,12 @@ class ProfileDir(LoggingConfigurable):
 
     def _log_dir_changed(self, name, old, new):
         self.check_log_dir()
-    
+
     def _mkdir(self, path, mode=None):
         """ensure a directory exists at a given path
-        
+
         This is a version of os.mkdir, with the following differences:
-        
+
         - returns True if it created the directory, False otherwise
         - ignores EEXIST, protecting against race conditions where
           the dir may have been created in between the check and
@@ -124,7 +133,7 @@ class ProfileDir(LoggingConfigurable):
                 return False
             else:
                 raise
-        
+
         return True
 
     def check_log_dir(self):
@@ -270,5 +279,3 @@ class ProfileDir(LoggingConfigurable):
         if not os.path.isdir(profile_dir):
             raise ProfileDirError('Profile directory not found: %s' % profile_dir)
         return cls(location=profile_dir, config=config)
-
-