diff --git a/board/common/overlay/etc/init.d/S21passwd b/board/common/overlay/etc/init.d/S21passwd
index 03a1d7d6b6..93ce86ca0e 100755
--- a/board/common/overlay/etc/init.d/S21passwd
+++ b/board/common/overlay/etc/init.d/S21passwd
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 
 test -n "$os_version" || source /etc/init.d/base
 
+test -x /etc/init.d/adminpw || exit 0
+
 case "$1" in
     start)
         # make sure root and admin users exist in shadow file
@@ -14,13 +16,11 @@ case "$1" in
             echo 'admin::::::::' >> /data/etc/shadow
         fi
 
-        # set root and admin passwords
-        password=""
-        if [ -x /etc/init.d/adminpw ]; then
-            password=$(/etc/init.d/adminpw)
-        fi
+        # set root and admin passwords (admin is just an alias for root)
+        password=$(/etc/init.d/adminpw)
         msg_begin "Setting root password"
 
+        # remove shadow backups
         rm -f /data/etc/shadow+
         rm -f /data/etc/shadow-