diff --git a/meta/recipes-multimedia/pulseaudio/pulseaudio.inc b/meta/recipes-multimedia/pulseaudio/pulseaudio.inc
index 2fed4f954c..81573e3100 100644
--- a/meta/recipes-multimedia/pulseaudio/pulseaudio.inc
+++ b/meta/recipes-multimedia/pulseaudio/pulseaudio.inc
@@ -99,12 +99,7 @@ CONFFILES_pulseaudio-server = "\
   "
 
 pkg_postinst_${PN}-server() {
-        # can't do this offline
-        if [ "x$D" != "x" ]; then
-                exit 1
-        fi
-
-        if [ -e ${sysconfdir}/init.d/populate-volatile.sh ] ; then
+        if [ -z "$D" ] && [ -e ${sysconfdir}/init.d/populate-volatile.sh ] ; then
             ${sysconfdir}/init.d/populate-volatile.sh update
         fi
 }