diff --git a/lib/databases/mysql b/lib/databases/mysql
index f6cc9224af..89ae082c81 100644
--- a/lib/databases/mysql
+++ b/lib/databases/mysql
@@ -82,10 +82,9 @@ function configure_database_mysql {
     fi
 
     # Set the root password - only works the first time. For Ubuntu, we already
-    # did that with debconf before installing the package.
-    if ! is_ubuntu; then
-        sudo mysqladmin -u root password $DATABASE_PASSWORD || true
-    fi
+    # did that with debconf before installing the package, but we still try,
+    # because the package might have been installed already.
+    sudo mysqladmin -u root password $DATABASE_PASSWORD || true
 
     # Update the DB to give user '$DATABASE_USER'@'%' full control of the all databases:
     sudo mysql -uroot -p$DATABASE_PASSWORD -h127.0.0.1 -e "GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO '$DATABASE_USER'@'%' identified by '$DATABASE_PASSWORD';"