diff --git a/install_minimal/include/AirtimeInstall.php b/install_minimal/include/AirtimeInstall.php
index e656bf983..d0c2ed3f7 100644
--- a/install_minimal/include/AirtimeInstall.php
+++ b/install_minimal/include/AirtimeInstall.php
@@ -321,6 +321,10 @@ class AirtimeInstall
         $con = Propel::getConnection();
         // we need to run php as commandline because we want to get the timezone in cli php.ini file
         $defaultTimezone = exec("php -r 'echo date_default_timezone_get().PHP_EOL;'");
+        $defaultTimezone = trim($defaultTimezone);
+        if((!in_array($defaultTimezone, DateTimeZone::listIdentifiers()))){
+        	$defaultTimezone = "UTC";
+        }
         $sql = "INSERT INTO cc_pref (keystr, valstr) VALUES ('timezone', '$defaultTimezone')";
         $result = $con->exec($sql);
         if ($result < 1) {