diff --git a/run_community.sh b/run_community.sh
index 124ffc4ad2e..8300e3720b0 100644
--- a/run_community.sh
+++ b/run_community.sh
@@ -1,4 +1,37 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 
 cd `dirname $0`
+
+SAMPLES="
+    community_wsgi.ini.sample
+    datatypes_conf.xml.sample
+    external_service_types_conf.xml.sample
+    migrated_tools_conf.xml.sample
+    reports_wsgi.ini.sample
+    shed_tool_conf.xml.sample
+    tool_conf.xml.sample
+    shed_tool_data_table_conf.xml.sample
+    tool_data_table_conf.xml.sample
+    tool_sheds_conf.xml.sample
+    openid_conf.xml.sample
+    universe_wsgi.ini.sample
+    tool-data/shared/ncbi/builds.txt.sample
+    tool-data/shared/ensembl/builds.txt.sample
+    tool-data/shared/ucsc/builds.txt.sample
+    tool-data/shared/ucsc/publicbuilds.txt.sample
+    tool-data/shared/igv/igv_build_sites.txt.sample
+    tool-data/shared/rviewer/rviewer_build_sites.txt.sample
+    tool-data/*.sample
+    static/welcome.html.sample
+"
+
+# Create any missing config/location files
+for sample in $SAMPLES; do
+    file=`echo $sample | sed -e 's/\.sample$//'`
+    if [ ! -f "$file" -a -f "$sample" ]; then
+        echo "Initializing $file from `basename $sample`"
+        cp $sample $file
+    fi
+done
+
 python ./scripts/paster.py serve community_wsgi.ini --pid-file=community_webapp.pid --log-file=community_webapp.log $@