diff --git a/scripts/99_deploy.sh b/scripts/99_deploy.sh
index 05f6af9..092570b 100755
--- a/scripts/99_deploy.sh
+++ b/scripts/99_deploy.sh
@@ -69,9 +69,16 @@ create_dir() {
         echo "error: unable to create the directory '${_directory}'"
         echo "  command:"
         echo "  runuser -l ${system_user} -c '${mkdir_command}'"
-
+        echo "will try creating the directory as root, and changing owner"
         mkdir -p "${_directory}"
+        sudo chown -R ${system_user}:${system_user} "${_directory}"
 
+        if [ -d "$_directory" ]
+        then
+            echo "success!"
+        else
+            echo "failure! directory could not be created."
+        fi
     fi
 
 }