diff --git a/tools/packaging/kata-deploy/scripts/kata-deploy.sh b/tools/packaging/kata-deploy/scripts/kata-deploy.sh
index 0d0afcece..30e607a10 100755
--- a/tools/packaging/kata-deploy/scripts/kata-deploy.sh
+++ b/tools/packaging/kata-deploy/scripts/kata-deploy.sh
@@ -268,7 +268,8 @@ function main() {
 		containerd_conf_file_backup="${containerd_conf_file}.bak"
 	else
 		# runtime == containerd
-		if [ ! -f "$containerd_conf_file" ]; then
+		if [ ! -f "$containerd_conf_file" ] && [ -d $(dirname "$containerd_conf_file") ] && \
+			[ -x $(command -v containerd) ]; then
 			containerd config default > "$containerd_conf_file"
 		fi
 	fi