diff --git a/init_scripts/00_make_sharelatex_data_dirs.sh b/init_scripts/00_make_sharelatex_data_dirs.sh
index f48a95fde7..6269f1b2a9 100755
--- a/init_scripts/00_make_sharelatex_data_dirs.sh
+++ b/init_scripts/00_make_sharelatex_data_dirs.sh
@@ -20,5 +20,8 @@ chown www-data:www-data /var/lib/sharelatex/tmp/uploads
 mkdir -p /var/lib/sharelatex/tmp/dumpFolder
 chown www-data:www-data /var/lib/sharelatex/tmp/dumpFolder
 
+if [ ! -e "/var/lib/sharelatex/data/db.sqlite" ]; then
+       touch /var/lib/sharelatex/data/db.sqlite
+fi
 
-chown www-data:www-data /var/lib/sharelatex/data/db.sqlite
\ No newline at end of file
+chown www-data:www-data /var/lib/sharelatex/data/db.sqlite