diff --git a/src/freedombone b/src/freedombone
index bafac4ab..c68fdb69 100755
--- a/src/freedombone
+++ b/src/freedombone
@@ -1702,7 +1702,7 @@ function configure_avahi {
   # this is a blatant hack, but I couldn't find a better way of mitigating the problem
   # of avahi-daemon stopping after a few minutes
   if ! grep -q "avahi-daemon" /etc/crontab; then
-      echo '2 * * * *   root    systemctl restart avahi-daemon' >> /etc/crontab
+      echo '2 * * * *   root    systemctl restart avahi-daemon > /dev/null' >> /etc/crontab
   fi
 
   echo 'configure_avahi' >> $COMPLETION_FILE
diff --git a/src/freedombone-client b/src/freedombone-client
index 9753d4e3..2aad3373 100755
--- a/src/freedombone-client
+++ b/src/freedombone-client
@@ -119,7 +119,11 @@ function mesh_babel {
   echo '    sed -i "s|#host-name=.*|host-name=$(hostname)|g" /etc/avahi/avahi-daemon.conf' >> $babel_script
   echo '    sed -i "s|host-name=.*|host-name=$(hostname)|g" /etc/avahi/avahi-daemon.conf' >> $babel_script
   echo '    if ! grep -q "avahi-daemon" /etc/crontab; then' >> $babel_script
-  echo "        echo '2 *   * * *   root    systemctl restart avahi-daemon' >> /etc/crontab" >> $babel_script
+  echo '        if [ -f /bin/systemctl ]; then' >> $babel_script
+  echo "            echo '2 *   * * *   root    systemctl restart avahi-daemon > /dev/null' >> /etc/crontab" >> $babel_script
+  echo '        else' >> $babel_script
+  echo "            echo '2 *   * * *   root    service avahi-daemon restart > /dev/null' >> /etc/crontab" >> $babel_script
+  echo '        fi' >> $babel_script
   echo '    fi' >> $babel_script
   echo '    if [ -f /bin/systemctl ]; then' >> $babel_script
   echo '        systemctl restart avahi-daemon' >> $babel_script
@@ -199,7 +203,11 @@ function mesh_batman {
   echo '    sed -i "s|use-ipv6=.*|use-ipv6=no|g" /etc/avahi/avahi-daemon.conf' >> $batman_script
   echo '    sed -i "s|hosts:.*|hosts:          files mdns4_minimal dns mdns4 mdns|g" /etc/nsswitch.conf' >> $batman_script
   echo '    if ! grep -q "avahi-daemon" /etc/crontab; then' >> $batman_script
-  echo "        echo '2 *   * * *   root    systemctl restart avahi-daemon' >> /etc/crontab" >> $batman_script
+  echo '        if [ -f /bin/systemctl ]; then' >> $batman_script
+  echo "            echo '2 *   * * *   root    systemctl restart avahi-daemon > /dev/null' >> /etc/crontab" >> $batman_script
+  echo '        else' >> $batman_script
+  echo "            echo '2 *   * * *   root    service avahi-daemon restart > /dev/null' >> /etc/crontab" >> $batman_script
+  echo '        fi' >> $batman_script
   echo '    fi' >> $batman_script
   echo 'fi' >> $batman_script
   echo '' >> $batman_script