diff --git a/src/server.js b/src/server.js
index 8ce18286d..abedff0a1 100644
--- a/src/server.js
+++ b/src/server.js
@@ -430,11 +430,12 @@ async function start() {
     debug(`           Cloudron ${constants.VERSION}  `);
     debug('==========================================');
 
-    gHttpServer = await initializeExpressSync();
-
     await database.initialize();
     await settings.initCache(); // pre-load very often used settings
     await cloudron.initialize();
+
+    gHttpServer = await initializeExpressSync();
+
     await util.promisify(gHttpServer.listen.bind(gHttpServer))(constants.PORT, '127.0.0.1');
     await safe(eventlog.add(eventlog.ACTION_START, { userId: null, username: 'boot' }, { version: constants.VERSION })); // can fail if db down
 }