diff --git a/app/views/unattended/provisioning_templates/snippet/remote_execution_ssh_keys.erb b/app/views/unattended/provisioning_templates/snippet/remote_execution_ssh_keys.erb
index 0d57a10243c..0818e50c4b5 100644
--- a/app/views/unattended/provisioning_templates/snippet/remote_execution_ssh_keys.erb
+++ b/app/views/unattended/provisioning_templates/snippet/remote_execution_ssh_keys.erb
@@ -57,7 +57,9 @@ EOF
   chmod 0700 <%= ssh_path %>
   chmod 0600 <%= ssh_path %>/authorized_keys
   chown -R <%= "#{ssh_user}:" %> <%= ssh_path %>
+<% if ssh_user != 'root' -%>
   chown -R <%= "#{ssh_user}:" %> <%= "~#{ssh_user}" %>
+<% end -%>
 
   # Restore SELinux context with restorecon, if it's available:
   command -v restorecon && restorecon -RvF <%= ssh_path %> || true