diff --git a/usr/lib/archboot/container.sh b/usr/lib/archboot/container.sh
index 217bf8ff3..211621dcc 100644
--- a/usr/lib/archboot/container.sh
+++ b/usr/lib/archboot/container.sh
@@ -141,7 +141,8 @@ _aarch64_install_base_packages() {
     if [[ -e "$(basename "${_PACMAN_CONF}")" ]]; then 
         _PACMAN_CONF=$(basename "${_PACMAN_CONF}")
     fi
-    systemd-nspawn -q -D "${1}" /bin/bash -c "pacman -Sy ${_PACKAGES} --config ${_PACMAN_CONF} --ignore systemd-resolvconf --noconfirm" >/dev/null 2>&1
+    [[ -d "${1}"/blankdb ]] || mkdir "${1}"/blankdb
+    systemd-nspawn -q -D "${1}" /bin/bash -c "pacman -Sy ${_PACKAGES} --dbpath /blankdb --config ${_PACMAN_CONF} --ignore systemd-resolvconf --noconfirm" >/dev/null 2>&1
 }
 
 _aarch64_install_archboot() {
@@ -149,7 +150,8 @@ _aarch64_install_archboot() {
         _PACMAN_CONF=$(basename "${_PACMAN_CONF}")
     fi
     echo "Installing ${_ARCHBOOT} to ${1} ..."
-    systemd-nspawn -q -D "${1}" /bin/bash -c "pacman -Sy ${_ARCHBOOT} --config ${_PACMAN_CONF} --ignore systemd-resolvconf --noconfirm" >/dev/null 2>&1
+    [[ -d "${1}"/blankdb ]] || mkdir "${1}"/blankdb
+    systemd-nspawn -q -D "${1}" /bin/bash -c "pacman -Sy ${_ARCHBOOT} --dbpath /blankdb --config ${_PACMAN_CONF} --ignore systemd-resolvconf --noconfirm" >/dev/null 2>&1
 }
 
 _copy_mirrorlist_and_pacman_conf() {