diff --git a/tools/appliance/definitions/systemvmtemplate/configure_locale.sh b/tools/appliance/definitions/systemvmtemplate/configure_locale.sh
index 6619c6cf11b..8747a571d34 100644
--- a/tools/appliance/definitions/systemvmtemplate/configure_locale.sh
+++ b/tools/appliance/definitions/systemvmtemplate/configure_locale.sh
@@ -1,4 +1,14 @@
-fix_locale() {
+#!/bin/bash
+
+set -e
+set -x
+
+function configure_locale() {
+  grep LANG=en_US.UTF-8 /etc/default/locale && \
+      grep LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8 /etc/default/locale && \
+      grep "en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8" /etc/locale.gen &&
+      return
+
   cat >> /etc/default/locale  << EOF
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8
@@ -10,4 +20,4 @@ EOF
   locale-gen en_US.UTF-8
 }
 
-fix_locale
+return 2>/dev/null || configure_locale