diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 051c050..e8adc4a 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -8,19 +8,11 @@ Installation instructions:
 ```bash
 $ pwd
 ~/Much-Assembly-Required-Frontend/
-$ mysql -u root -p
-Enter password:  # type your MySQL root user password
-
-MariaDB [(none)]>
-MariaDB [(none)]> CREATE DATABASE mar;
-MariaDB [(none)]> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON mar.* to 'mar'@'localhost' identified by 'mar';
-MariaDB [(none)]> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
-MariaDB [(none)]> USE mar;
-MariaDB [mar]> \. database.sql
-MariaDB [(none)]> exit
-Bye
-$ # if '\. database.sql' failed you were not in the right directory. make sure you are in the repo root directory
-$ # before running these commands
+$ mysql -u root -p < database.sql
+Enter password:  # type your MySQL root user password if you set any
+                 # on a fresh install the password is empty
+                 # NOTE: on a fresh install you might have to run the command with sudo
+                 # NEVER blindly run commands as sudo. Check the contents of the 'database.sql' file first!
 ```
 
 Running instructions:
diff --git a/database.sql b/database.sql
index 79dc9f7..2160a61 100644
--- a/database.sql
+++ b/database.sql
@@ -1,3 +1,14 @@
+-- make sure it exists
+create database if not exists mar;
+
+-- create user (will be created if not exists) and grant privileges
+grant all privileges on `mar`.* to `mar`@`localhost` identified by 'mar';
+flush privileges;
+
+-- switch to use the database
+use mar;
+
+-- create tables
 create table mar_user
 (
   username varchar(20) not null