diff --git a/src/Composer/Command/InstallCommand.php b/src/Composer/Command/InstallCommand.php
index 3ae00c228..6763d24d6 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Command/InstallCommand.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Command/InstallCommand.php
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ class InstallCommand extends Command
                 new InputOption('optimize-autoloader', 'o', InputOption::VALUE_NONE, 'Optimize autoloader during autoloader dump'),
                 new InputOption('classmap-authoritative', 'a', InputOption::VALUE_NONE, 'Autoload classes from the classmap only. Implicitly enables `--optimize-autoloader`.'),
                 new InputOption('ignore-platform-reqs', null, InputOption::VALUE_NONE, 'Ignore platform requirements (php & ext- packages).'),
+                new InputOption('ignore-missing-metadata', null, InputOption::VALUE_NONE, 'Ignore missing .git|.svn|.hg metadata repositories (when updating or reinstalling).'),
                 new InputArgument('packages', InputArgument::IS_ARRAY | InputArgument::OPTIONAL, 'Should not be provided, use composer require instead to add a given package to composer.json.'),
             ))
             ->setHelp(<<<EOT
@@ -83,6 +84,7 @@ EOT
 
         $composer = $this->getComposer(true, $input->getOption('no-plugins'));
         $composer->getDownloadManager()->setOutputProgress(!$input->getOption('no-progress'));
+        $composer->getDownloadManager()->setForceUpdate($input->getOption('ignore-missing-metadata'));
 
         $commandEvent = new CommandEvent(PluginEvents::COMMAND, 'install', $input, $output);
         $composer->getEventDispatcher()->dispatch($commandEvent->getName(), $commandEvent);
diff --git a/src/Composer/Downloader/DownloadManager.php b/src/Composer/Downloader/DownloadManager.php
index 4d2e9c8f4..684b64111 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Downloader/DownloadManager.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Downloader/DownloadManager.php
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ class DownloadManager
     private $io;
     private $preferDist = false;
     private $preferSource = false;
+    private $forceUpdate = false;
     private $filesystem;
     private $downloaders  = array();
 
@@ -69,6 +70,20 @@ class DownloadManager
         return $this;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * set force update mode
+     * forces to update the repository event when missing metadata
+     *
+     * @param $forceUpdate
+     * @return DownloadManager
+     */
+    public function setForceUpdate($forceUpdate)
+    {
+        $this->forceUpdate = (boolean) $forceUpdate;
+
+        return $this;
+    }
+
     /**
      * Sets whether to output download progress information for all registered
      * downloaders
@@ -250,11 +265,17 @@ class DownloadManager
 
         if ($initialType === $targetType) {
             $target->setInstallationSource($installationSource);
-            $downloader->update($initial, $target, $targetDir);
-        } else {
-            $downloader->remove($initial, $targetDir);
-            $this->download($target, $targetDir, 'source' === $installationSource);
+            try {
+                $downloader->update($initial, $target, $targetDir);
+                return;
+            } catch (VcsMissingMetadataException $ex) {
+                if ($this->forceUpdate === false) {
+                    throw $ex;
+                }
+            }
         }
+        $downloader->remove($initial, $targetDir);
+        $this->download($target, $targetDir, 'source' === $installationSource);
     }
 
     /**