diff --git a/data/fwupd.shutdown.in b/data/fwupd.shutdown.in
index 53b334555..abde9394b 100755
--- a/data/fwupd.shutdown.in
+++ b/data/fwupd.shutdown.in
@@ -4,4 +4,8 @@
 [ -f @localstatedir@/lib/fwupd/pending.db ] || exit 0
 
 # activate firmware when we have a read-only filesysten
-@bindir@/fwupdtool activate
+if !@bindir@/fwupdtool activate; then
+        ret=$?
+        [ "$ret" -eq "2" ] && exit 0
+        exit $ret
+fi