diff --git a/PVE/QemuServer.pm b/PVE/QemuServer.pm
index e82a59a2..a79655dd 100644
--- a/PVE/QemuServer.pm
+++ b/PVE/QemuServer.pm
@@ -786,7 +786,7 @@ my $confdesc_cloudinit = {
 	optional => 1,
 	type => 'boolean',
 	description => 'cloud-init: do an automatic package upgrade after the first boot.',
-	default => 0,
+	default => 1,
     },
     cicustom => {
 	optional => 1,
diff --git a/PVE/QemuServer/Cloudinit.pm b/PVE/QemuServer/Cloudinit.pm
index cd5cc242..7449993a 100644
--- a/PVE/QemuServer/Cloudinit.pm
+++ b/PVE/QemuServer/Cloudinit.pm
@@ -148,7 +148,7 @@ sub cloudinit_userdata {
 	$content .= "  - default\n";
     }
 
-    $content .= "package_upgrade: true\n" if $conf->{ciupgrade};
+    $content .= "package_upgrade: true\n" if !defined($conf->{ciupgrade}) || $conf->{ciupgrade};
 
     return $content;
 }