diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 4d3e2655f2..e0dabc470f 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -215,15 +215,7 @@ RUN windmill cache ${APP}/hubPaths.json && rm ${APP}/hubPaths.json && chmod -R 7
 # Create a non-root user 'windmill' with UID and GID 1000
 RUN addgroup --gid 1000 windmill && \
     adduser --disabled-password --gecos "" --uid 1000 --gid 1000 windmill
-
-RUN cp -r /root/.cache /home/windmill/.cache
-
-RUN mkdir -p /tmp/windmill/logs && \
-    mkdir -p /tmp/windmill/search
-
-RUN chown -R windmill:windmill ${APP} && \
-     chown -R windmill:windmill /tmp/windmill && \
-     chown -R windmill:windmill /home/windmill/.cache
+RUN cp -r /root/.cache /home/windmill/.cache && chown -R windmill:windmill /home/windmill/.cache
 
 USER root
 
diff --git a/backend/src/main.rs b/backend/src/main.rs
index aec045c8f3..a33752965e 100644
--- a/backend/src/main.rs
+++ b/backend/src/main.rs
@@ -494,10 +494,15 @@ Windmill Community Edition {GIT_VERSION}
 
         let (base_internal_tx, base_internal_rx) = tokio::sync::oneshot::channel::<String>();
 
-        DirBuilder::new()
-            .recursive(true)
-            .create("/tmp/windmill")
-            .expect("could not create initial server dir");
+        for dir in ["/tmp/windmill", "/tmp/windmill/logs"] {
+            create_dir_all(dir)
+                .expect(&format!("could not create directory {}", dir));
+        }
+
+        if indexer_mode {
+            create_dir_all("/tmp/windmill/search")
+                .expect("could not create search directory");
+        }
 
         #[cfg(feature = "tantivy")]
         let should_index_jobs = mode == Mode::Indexer || mode_and_addons.indexer;