diff --git a/live-build/ubuntu-touch/hooks/03-etc-writable.chroot b/live-build/ubuntu-touch/hooks/03-etc-writable.chroot
index f0a14f3f..28756002 100755
--- a/live-build/ubuntu-touch/hooks/03-etc-writable.chroot
+++ b/live-build/ubuntu-touch/hooks/03-etc-writable.chroot
@@ -8,6 +8,9 @@ for f in timezone localtime machine-info hostname; do
     if [ -e /etc/$f ]; then
         echo "I: Moving /etc/$f to /etc/writable/"
         mv /etc/$f /etc/writable/$f
+    else
+    	echo "I: Creating /etc/writable/$f"
+    	touch /etc/writable/$f
     fi
     echo "I: Linking /etc/$f to /etc/writable/"
     ln -s writable/$f /etc/$f