diff --git a/setup/start.sh b/setup/start.sh
index 49c75e714..773423528 100755
--- a/setup/start.sh
+++ b/setup/start.sh
@@ -212,6 +212,12 @@ mkdir -p "${DATA_DIR}/nginx/applications"
 mkdir -p "${DATA_DIR}/nginx/cert"
 cp "${script_dir}/start/nginx/nginx.conf" "${DATA_DIR}/nginx/nginx.conf"
 cp "${script_dir}/start/nginx/mime.types" "${DATA_DIR}/nginx/mime.types"
+if ! grep "^Restart=" /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/nginx.service; then
+    # default nginx service file does not restart on crash
+    echo -e "\n[Service]\nRestart=always\n" >> /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/nginx.service
+    systemctl daemon-reload
+fi
+systemctl start nginx
 
 # bookkeep the version as part of data
 echo "{ \"version\": \"${arg_version}\", \"boxVersionsUrl\": \"${arg_box_versions_url}\" }" > "${BOX_DATA_DIR}/version"