diff --git a/src/services/auth.ts b/src/services/auth.ts
index 7d55c3d32..38eb19823 100644
--- a/src/services/auth.ts
+++ b/src/services/auth.ts
@@ -39,7 +39,9 @@ function checkAuth(req: Request, res: Response, next: NextFunction) {
         res.redirect('login');
         return;
     } else if (!req.session.loggedIn && !noAuthentication) {
-        const redirectToShare = options.getOptionBool("redirectBareDomain");
+
+        const redirectToShare = hasRedirectBareDomain();
+
         if (redirectToShare) {
             // Check if any note has the #shareRoot label
             const shareRootNotes = attributes.getNotesWithLabel("shareRoot");
@@ -54,6 +56,18 @@ function checkAuth(req: Request, res: Response, next: NextFunction) {
     }
 }
 
+
+// avoid receiving an error, on a new installation, when the DB is not initialized yet
+// => getOptionBool uses getOption, which throws an error if the option name is not found
+// TriliumNextTODO: potentially refactor getOptionBool instead
+function hasRedirectBareDomain() {
+    try {
+        return options.getOptionBool("redirectBareDomain");
+    } catch(e) {
+        return false;
+    }
+}
+
 // for electron things which need network stuff
 //  currently, we're doing that for file upload because handling form data seems to be difficult
 function checkApiAuthOrElectron(req: Request, res: Response, next: NextFunction) {