diff --git a/src/main/java/org/scijava/util/FileUtils.java b/src/main/java/org/scijava/util/FileUtils.java
index 4de14f37f..5bc08fe7c 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/scijava/util/FileUtils.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/scijava/util/FileUtils.java
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@
 import java.net.URI;
 import java.net.URISyntaxException;
 import java.net.URL;
+import java.nio.file.Files;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Calendar;
 import java.util.Collection;
@@ -472,14 +473,10 @@ public static File createTemporaryDirectory(final String prefix,
 		final String suffix, final File directory) throws IOException
 	{
 		for (int counter = 0; counter < 10; counter++) {
-			final File file = File.createTempFile(prefix, suffix, directory);
-
-			if (!file.delete()) {
-				throw new IOException("Could not delete file " + file);
-			}
+			final File file = Files.createTempDirectory(directory.toPath(), prefix + suffix).toFile();
 
 			// in case of a race condition, just try again
-			if (file.mkdir()) return file;
+			if (true) return file;
 		}
 		throw new IOException(
 			"Could not create temporary directory (too many race conditions?)");