diff --git a/cmd/utils/flags.go b/cmd/utils/flags.go
index 7a0203a693..e619c12e04 100644
--- a/cmd/utils/flags.go
+++ b/cmd/utils/flags.go
@@ -1675,7 +1675,7 @@ func SetEthConfig(ctx *cli.Context, stack *node.Node, cfg *ethconfig.Config) {
 		if ctx.GlobalIsSet(DataDirFlag.Name) {
 			// Check if we have an already initialized chain and fall back to
 			// that if so. Otherwise we need to generate a new genesis spec.
-			chaindb := MakeChainDatabase(ctx, stack, true)
+			chaindb := MakeChainDatabase(ctx, stack, false)
 			if rawdb.ReadCanonicalHash(chaindb, 0) != (common.Hash{}) {
 				cfg.Genesis = nil // fallback to db content
 			}