diff --git a/src/node/markdownToVue.ts b/src/node/markdownToVue.ts
index dc6aeb02..2c5722c9 100644
--- a/src/node/markdownToVue.ts
+++ b/src/node/markdownToVue.ts
@@ -25,7 +25,11 @@ export function createMarkdownToVueRenderFn(
   const md = createMarkdownRenderer(root, options)
   pages = pages.map((p) => slash(p.replace(/\.md$/, '')))
 
-  return (src: string, file: string): MarkdownCompileResult => {
+  return (
+    src: string,
+    file: string,
+    publicDir: string
+  ): MarkdownCompileResult => {
     const relativePath = slash(path.relative(root, file))
 
     const cached = cache.get(src)
@@ -56,7 +60,10 @@ export function createMarkdownToVueRenderFn(
             ? url.slice(1)
             : path.relative(root, path.resolve(dir, url))
         )
-        if (!pages.includes(resolved)) {
+        if (
+          !pages.includes(resolved) &&
+          !fs.existsSync(path.resolve(dir, publicDir, `${resolved}.html`))
+        ) {
           console.warn(
             chalk.yellow(
               `\n(!) Found dead link ${chalk.cyan(
diff --git a/src/node/plugin.ts b/src/node/plugin.ts
index dbbff709..34f71405 100644
--- a/src/node/plugin.ts
+++ b/src/node/plugin.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import path from 'path'
-import { Plugin } from 'vite'
+import { Plugin, ResolvedConfig } from 'vite'
 import { SiteConfig, resolveSiteData } from './config'
 import { createMarkdownToVueRenderFn } from './markdownToVue'
 import { APP_PATH, SITE_DATA_REQUEST_PATH } from './alias'
@@ -37,10 +37,15 @@ export function createVitePressPlugin(
 
   let siteData = site
   let hasDeadLinks = false
+  let config: ResolvedConfig
 
   const vitePressPlugin: Plugin = {
     name: 'vitepress',
 
+    configResolved(resolvedConfig) {
+      config = resolvedConfig
+    },
+
     config() {
       return {
         resolve: {
@@ -72,7 +77,7 @@ export function createVitePressPlugin(
     transform(code, id) {
       if (id.endsWith('.md')) {
         // transform .md files into vueSrc so plugin-vue can handle it
-        const { vueSrc, deadLinks } = markdownToVue(code, id)
+        const { vueSrc, deadLinks } = markdownToVue(code, id, config.publicDir)
         if (deadLinks.length) {
           hasDeadLinks = true
         }
@@ -176,7 +181,11 @@ export function createVitePressPlugin(
       // hot reload .md files as .vue files
       if (file.endsWith('.md')) {
         const content = await read()
-        const { pageData, vueSrc } = markdownToVue(content, file)
+        const { pageData, vueSrc } = markdownToVue(
+          content,
+          file,
+          config.publicDir
+        )
 
         // notify the client to update page data
         server.ws.send({