diff --git a/deploy/arax/scripts/start_app.sh b/deploy/arax/scripts/start_app.sh
index c507a5e00..32e7448b6 100755
--- a/deploy/arax/scripts/start_app.sh
+++ b/deploy/arax/scripts/start_app.sh
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ chmod -R 777 /mnt/data/orangeboard/databases/
 chown -R rt:rt /mnt/data/orangeboard/databases/
 
 # the instructions below are from the deployment wiki at https://github.com/RTXteam/RTX/wiki/ARAX-Docker-Deployment
-su rt && cd /mnt/data/orangeboard/production/RTX && python3 code/ARAX/ARAXQuery/ARAX_database_manager.py
+su - rt -c 'cd /mnt/data/orangeboard/production/RTX && python3 code/ARAX/ARAXQuery/ARAX_database_manager.py'
 
 sudo service apache2 start
 sudo service RTX_OpenAPI_production start
diff --git a/deploy/kg2/scripts/start_app.sh b/deploy/kg2/scripts/start_app.sh
index 21c8fe4ae..6f1df8b7c 100755
--- a/deploy/kg2/scripts/start_app.sh
+++ b/deploy/kg2/scripts/start_app.sh
@@ -6,9 +6,7 @@ cp /configs/config_secrets.json /mnt/data/orangeboard/kg2/RTX/code/config_secret
 chmod -R 755 /mnt/data/orangeboard/databases/
 
 # the instructions below are from the deployment wiki at https://github.com/RTXteam/RTX/wiki/RTX-KG2-API-Docker-Deployment
-su rt 
-cd /mnt/data/orangeboard/kg2/RTX 
-python3 code/ARAX/ARAXQuery/ARAX_database_manager.py
+su - rt -c 'cd /mnt/data/orangeboard/production/RTX && python3 code/ARAX/ARAXQuery/ARAX_database_manager.py'
 
 sudo service apache2 start
 sudo service RTX_OpenAPI_kg2 start