diff --git a/tutor/templates/build/openedx-dev/Dockerfile b/tutor/templates/build/openedx-dev/Dockerfile
index 5170f85..49ead48 100644
--- a/tutor/templates/build/openedx-dev/Dockerfile
+++ b/tutor/templates/build/openedx-dev/Dockerfile
@@ -10,15 +10,14 @@ RUN apt update && \
 RUN pip install -r requirements/edx/development.txt
 RUN pip install ipdb==0.12.2 ipython==5.8.0
 
-# Configure new user
-ARG USERID=1000
-RUN useradd --home-dir /openedx --uid $USERID openedx
-RUN chown -R openedx:openedx /openedx
-
 # Copy new entrypoint (to take care of permission issues at runtime)
 COPY ./bin /openedx/bin
 RUN chmod a+x /openedx/bin/*
 
+# Configure new user
+ARG USERID=1000
+RUN create-user.sh $USERID
+
 # Default django settings
 ENV SETTINGS tutor.development
 
diff --git a/tutor/templates/build/openedx-dev/bin/create-user.sh b/tutor/templates/build/openedx-dev/bin/create-user.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..4b91302
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tutor/templates/build/openedx-dev/bin/create-user.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+#! /bin/sh -e
+USERID=$1
+
+if [ "$USERID" != "" ] && [ "$USERID" != "0" ]
+then
+  echo "Creating 'openedx' user with id $USERID"
+  useradd --home-dir /openedx --uid $USERID openedx
+  chown -R openedx:openedx /openedx
+else
+  echo "Running as root"
+fi
\ No newline at end of file