diff --git a/resources/install b/resources/install
index b33073dd..9e3916ea 100755
--- a/resources/install
+++ b/resources/install
@@ -72,9 +72,6 @@ sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/gitlab /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/gitlab
 # create the /var/run/sshd directory (required for sshd to start)
 mkdir -p /var/run/sshd
 
-# clear mysql database
-rm -rf /var/lib/mysql/*
-
 # configure nginx
 sed 's/YOUR_SERVER_FQDN/localhost/' -i /etc/nginx/sites-available/gitlab
 echo "daemon off;" >> /etc/nginx/nginx.conf
diff --git a/resources/start b/resources/start
index 3735c40e..ec315594 100755
--- a/resources/start
+++ b/resources/start
@@ -22,9 +22,8 @@ DB_POOL=${DB_POOL:-5}
 
 # start mysql server if ${DB_HOST} is localhost
 if [ "${DB_HOST}" == "localhost" ]; then
-	if [ ! -d /var/lib/mysql/mysql ]; then
+	if ! echo "USE ${DB_NAME}" | mysql -uroot ${DB_PASS:+-p$DB_PASS} >/dev/null 2>&1; then
 		DB_INIT="yes"
-		mysql_install_db --user=mysql
 	fi
 
 	cat > /etc/supervisor/conf.d/mysqld.conf <<EOF