diff --git a/lib/libalpm/alpm.c b/lib/libalpm/alpm.c
index 36e6f7f4..60612fb2 100644
--- a/lib/libalpm/alpm.c
+++ b/lib/libalpm/alpm.c
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ alpm_handle_t SYMEXPORT *alpm_initialize(const char *root, const char *dbpath,
 	/* set default sandboxuser */
 	ASSERT((pw = getpwuid(0)) != NULL, myerr = errno; goto cleanup);
 	STRDUP(myhandle->sandboxuser, pw->pw_name, goto nomem);
-
+	
 #ifdef ENABLE_NLS
 	bindtextdomain("libalpm", LOCALEDIR);
 #endif
diff --git a/src/pacman/conf.c b/src/pacman/conf.c
index 31a89fa8..a0e0e96a 100644
--- a/src/pacman/conf.c
+++ b/src/pacman/conf.c
@@ -938,7 +938,11 @@ static int setup_libalpm(void)
 	alpm_option_set_architectures(handle, config->architectures);
 	alpm_option_set_checkspace(handle, config->checkspace);
 	alpm_option_set_usesyslog(handle, config->usesyslog);
-	alpm_option_set_sandboxuser(handle, config->sandboxuser);
+
+	if(config->sandboxuser) {
+		alpm_option_set_sandboxuser(handle, config->sandboxuser);
+	}
+
 	alpm_option_set_disable_sandbox(handle, config->disable_sandbox);
 
 	alpm_option_set_ignorepkgs(handle, config->ignorepkg);