diff --git a/packages/webui/src/reads.mjs b/packages/webui/src/reads.mjs
index 01224d15..067fb8ab 100644
--- a/packages/webui/src/reads.mjs
+++ b/packages/webui/src/reads.mjs
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ export function businessId({ business = null, dataRoot = null }) {
   if (!dataRoot) throw new ReadError('not-configured', 'the Console has no system config, so it knows no business');
   let state;
   try { state = readHostState(dataRoot); } catch { throw new ReadError('no-bus-host', 'the bus host state file is unreadable'); }
-  if (!state?.live) throw new ReadError('no-bus-host', 'no bus host is running and no --business was given');
+  if (!state) throw new ReadError('no-bus-host', 'no bus host is running and no --business was given');
   return state.business;
 }
 const VAR_KEYS = ['tracker.kind', 'tracker.baseUrl', 'tracker.reconcileMinutes', 'tracker.pollSeconds', 'gitea.baseUrl', 'limits.tools', 'limits.network', 'limits.authority'];