diff --git a/omero-web/start_omero_web.sh b/omero-web/start_omero_web.sh
index 67b72e4..df435d6 100644
--- a/omero-web/start_omero_web.sh
+++ b/omero-web/start_omero_web.sh
@@ -1,3 +1,10 @@
+function wait_for_db_user {
+    until ${OMERO_HOME}/bin/omero login -s omero_server -p 4064 -u root -w password ; do
+        >&2 echo "OMERO.server is unavailable - sleeping"
+        sleep 10
+    done
+}
+
 cd $OMERO_HOME
 
 if [ $OMERO_WEB_DEVELOPMENT == "no" ]
@@ -21,6 +28,8 @@ then
     export PYTHONPATH=$OMERO_WEB_DEVELOPMENT_APPS:$PYTHONPATH
     bash /data/omero_web_apps/deploy.sh
 
+    wait_for_db_user
+
     ./bin/omero web start
 
 else
@@ -35,5 +44,6 @@ else
 
     ./bin/omero config set omero.web.server_list "[[\"omero_server\", 4064, \"omero\"]]"
 
+    wait_for_db_user
 fi