diff --git a/vm/firstboot.sh b/vm/firstboot.sh
index 143aec28..209e5923 100755
--- a/vm/firstboot.sh
+++ b/vm/firstboot.sh
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 #!/bin/sh
+export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
 #fails in bootstrap
 apt-get -y install ipython ntp