diff --git a/rattail_fabric2/backup.py b/rattail_fabric2/backup.py
index d2c0881..5217823 100644
--- a/rattail_fabric2/backup.py
+++ b/rattail_fabric2/backup.py
@@ -105,11 +105,19 @@ def deploy_backup_app(c, deploy, envname, mkvirtualenv=True, user='rattail',
         deploy_generic(c, 'backup/git-exclude', os.path.join(envpath, 'src/rattail/.git/info/exclude'), use_sudo=True, owner=user)
 
         # config
-        c.sudo("bash -l -c 'workon {} && cdvirtualenv && rattail make-appdir'".format(envname), user=user)
+        if not exists(c, os.path.join(envpath, 'app')):
+            c.sudo("bash -c 'cd {} && bin/rattail make-appdir'".format(envpath),
+                   user=user)
         # note, config is owned by root regardless of `user` - since we always run backups as root
-        deploy(c, config, os.path.join(envpath, 'app/rattail.conf'), owner='root:{}'.format(user), mode='0640', use_sudo=True, context=context)
-        c.sudo("bash -l -c 'workon {} && cdvirtualenv && bin/rattail -c app/rattail.conf make-config -T quiet -O app/'".format(envname), user=user)
-        c.sudo("bash -l -c 'workon {} && cdvirtualenv && bin/rattail -c app/rattail.conf make-config -T silent -O app/'".format(envname), user=user)
+        deploy(c, config, os.path.join(envpath, 'app/rattail.conf'), 
+               use_sudo=True, owner='root:{}'.format(user), mode='0640', 
+               context=context)
+        if not exists(c, os.path.join(envpath, 'app', 'quiet.conf')):
+            c.sudo("bash -c 'cd {} && bin/rattail -c app/rattail.conf make-config -T quiet -O app/'".format(envpath),
+                   user=user)
+        if not exists(c, os.path.join(envpath, 'app', 'silent.conf')):
+            c.sudo("bash -c 'cd {} && bin/rattail -c app/rattail.conf make-config -T silent -O app/".format(envpath),
+                   user=user)
 
         # rattail-backup script
         script_context = dict(context)