diff --git a/server.js b/server.js
index ce15e88b..e3a9f5d5 100644
--- a/server.js
+++ b/server.js
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ const history = require('connect-history-api-fallback');
 
 /* Kick of some basic checks */
 require('./services/update-checker'); // Checks if there are any updates available, prints message
+
 let config = {}; // setup the config
 config = require('./services/config-validator'); // Include and kicks off the config file validation script
 
@@ -74,9 +75,8 @@ const app = express()
   // Load SSL redirection middleware
   .use(sslServer.middleware)
   // Serves up static files
-  .use(express.static(path.join(__dirname, 'user-data')))
   .use(express.static(path.join(__dirname, 'dist')))
-  .use(express.static(path.join(__dirname, 'user-data')))
+  .use(express.static(path.join(__dirname, process.env.USER_DATA_DIR || 'user-data')))
   .use(express.static(path.join(__dirname, 'public'), { index: 'initialization.html' }))
   // Load middlewares for parsing JSON, and supporting HTML5 history routing
   .use(express.json({ limit: '1mb' }))
diff --git a/services/config-validator.js b/services/config-validator.js
index eeb58a3b..f7786e0e 100644
--- a/services/config-validator.js
+++ b/services/config-validator.js
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ const printFileReadError = (e) => {
 let config = {};
 
 try { // Try to open and parse the YAML file
-  config = yaml.load(fs.readFileSync('./user-data/conf.yml', 'utf8'));
+  config = yaml.load(fs.readFileSync(`./${process.env.USER_DATA_DIR || 'user-data'}/conf.yml`, 'utf8'));
   validate(config);
 } catch (e) { // Something went very wrong...
   setIsValidVariable(false);
diff --git a/services/save-config.js b/services/save-config.js
index 07f62f3f..f946be54 100644
--- a/services/save-config.js
+++ b/services/save-config.js
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ module.exports = async (newConfig, render) => {
 
   // Define constants for the config file
   const settings = {
-    defaultLocation: './user-data/',
+    defaultLocation: process.env.USER_DATA_DIR || './user-data/',
     defaultFile: 'conf.yml',
     filename: 'conf',
     backupDenominator: '.backup.yml',