diff --git a/src/freedombone-app-datserver b/src/freedombone-app-datserver
index 442b0728..3b760870 100755
--- a/src/freedombone-app-datserver
+++ b/src/freedombone-app-datserver
@@ -272,6 +272,10 @@ function install_datserver {
 
     set_completion_param "datserver version" "$DATSERVER_DAT_VERSION"
 
+    if [ -d $DATSERVER_DIRECTORY ]; then
+        rm -rf $DATSERVER_DIRECTORY
+    fi
+    mkdir $DATSERVER_DIRECTORY
     useradd -d "$DATSERVER_DIRECTORY" -s /bin/false datserver
     if [ ! -d $DATSERVER_DIRECTORY ]; then
         echo $'dat directory was not created'