diff --git a/migrations/20171116191443-backups-add-manifestJson.js b/migrations/20171116191443-backups-add-manifestJson.js
index 50cec1bd8..6d55ea37a 100644
--- a/migrations/20171116191443-backups-add-manifestJson.js
+++ b/migrations/20171116191443-backups-add-manifestJson.js
@@ -16,7 +16,8 @@ exports.up = function(db, callback) {
                 if (error) return callback(error);
 
                 async.eachSeries(backups, function (backup, next) {
-                    var m = backup.restoreConfigJson ? JSON.stringify(JSON.parse(backup.restoreConfigJson).manifest) : null;
+                    var m = backup.restoreConfigJson ? JSON.parse(backup.restoreConfigJson) : null;
+                    if (m) m = JSON.stringify(m.manifest);
 
                     db.runSql('UPDATE backups SET manifestJson=? WHERE id=?', [ m, backup.id ], next);
                 });
diff --git a/src/appdb.js b/src/appdb.js
index ab59df431..fb875103b 100644
--- a/src/appdb.js
+++ b/src/appdb.js
@@ -197,7 +197,7 @@ function add(id, appStoreId, manifest, location, portBindings, data, callback) {
     var altDomain = data.altDomain || null;
     var xFrameOptions = data.xFrameOptions || '';
     var installationState = data.installationState || exports.ISTATE_PENDING_INSTALL;
-    var restoreConfigJson = JSON.stringify(data.restoreConfig || null); // used when cloning
+    var restoreConfigJson = data.restoreConfig ? JSON.stringify(data.restoreConfig) : null; // used when cloning
     var sso = 'sso' in data ? data.sso : null;
     var debugModeJson = data.debugMode ? JSON.stringify(data.debugMode) : null;
 
diff --git a/src/apps.js b/src/apps.js
index 4a6133137..df57e40a0 100644
--- a/src/apps.js
+++ b/src/apps.js
@@ -1108,10 +1108,14 @@ function restoreInstalledApps(callback) {
         async.map(apps, function (app, iteratorDone) {
             debug('marking %s for restore', app.location || app.id);
 
-            appdb.setInstallationCommand(app.id, appdb.ISTATE_PENDING_RESTORE, { oldConfig: null }, function (error) {
-                if (error) debug('did not mark %s for restore', app.location || app.id, error);
+            backups.getByAppIdPaged(1, 1, app.id, function (error, results) {
+                var restoreConfig = !error && results.length ? { backupId: results[0].id, backupFormat: results[0].format } : null;
 
-                iteratorDone(); // always succeed
+                appdb.setInstallationCommand(app.id, appdb.ISTATE_PENDING_RESTORE, { restoreConfig: restoreConfig, oldConfig: null }, function (error) {
+                    if (error) debug('did not mark %s for restore', app.location || app.id, error);
+
+                    iteratorDone(); // always succeed
+                });
             });
         }, callback);
     });