diff --git a/graylog2-server/src/main/java/org/graylog2/Configuration.java b/graylog2-server/src/main/java/org/graylog2/Configuration.java
index c378a32f6dcd..da5afb1418e8 100644
--- a/graylog2-server/src/main/java/org/graylog2/Configuration.java
+++ b/graylog2-server/src/main/java/org/graylog2/Configuration.java
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 import com.github.joschi.jadconfig.validators.PositiveIntegerValidator;
 import com.github.joschi.jadconfig.validators.PositiveLongValidator;
 import org.graylog2.plugin.BaseConfiguration;
+import org.joda.time.DateTimeZone;
 
 import java.net.URI;
 
@@ -75,6 +76,12 @@ public class Configuration extends BaseConfiguration {
     @Parameter(value = "root_password_sha2", required = true)
     private String rootPasswordSha2;
 
+    @Parameter(value = "root_timezone")
+    private DateTimeZone rootTimeZone = DateTimeZone.UTC;
+
+    @Parameter(value = "root_email")
+    private String rootEmail = "";
+
     @Parameter(value = "allow_leading_wildcard_searches")
     private boolean allowLeadingWildcardSearches = false;
 
@@ -171,6 +178,14 @@ public String getRootPasswordSha2() {
         return rootPasswordSha2;
     }
 
+    public DateTimeZone getRootTimeZone() {
+        return rootTimeZone;
+    }
+
+    public String getRootEmail() {
+        return rootEmail;
+    }
+
     public boolean isAllowLeadingWildcardSearches() {
         return allowLeadingWildcardSearches;
     }
diff --git a/graylog2-server/src/main/java/org/graylog2/users/UserImpl.java b/graylog2-server/src/main/java/org/graylog2/users/UserImpl.java
index f1374ecc7c8a..53b9dc7cb432 100644
--- a/graylog2-server/src/main/java/org/graylog2/users/UserImpl.java
+++ b/graylog2-server/src/main/java/org/graylog2/users/UserImpl.java
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
 
 import static com.google.common.base.MoreObjects.firstNonNull;
+import static com.google.common.base.Strings.nullToEmpty;
 
 @CollectionName("users")
 public class UserImpl extends PersistedImpl implements User {
@@ -52,6 +53,8 @@ public class UserImpl extends PersistedImpl implements User {
     public static final String TIMEZONE = "timezone";
     public static final String EXTERNAL_USER = "external_user";
     public static final String SESSION_TIMEOUT = "session_timeout_ms";
+    public static final String STARTPAGE = "startpage";
+    public static final String HASH_ALGORITHM = "SHA-1";
 
     public static final int MAX_USERNAME_LENGTH = 100;
     public static final int MAX_EMAIL_LENGTH = 254;
@@ -107,8 +110,7 @@ public void setName(final String username) {
 
     @Override
     public String getEmail() {
-        final Object email = fields.get(EMAIL);
-        return email == null ? "" : email.toString();
+        return nullToEmpty((String) fields.get(EMAIL));
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -142,9 +144,9 @@ public void setPreferences(final Map<String, Object> preferences) {
     public Map<String, String> getStartpage() {
         final Map<String, String> startpage = Maps.newHashMap();
 
-        if (fields.containsKey("startpage")) {
+        if (fields.containsKey(STARTPAGE)) {
             @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
-            final Map<String, String> obj = (Map<String, String>) fields.get("startpage");
+            final Map<String, String> obj = (Map<String, String>) fields.get(STARTPAGE);
             startpage.put("type", obj.get("type"));
             startpage.put("id", obj.get("id"));
         }
@@ -181,14 +183,14 @@ public void setPassword(final String password, final String passwordSecret) {
             // If no password is given, we leave the hashed password empty and we fail during validation.
             setHashedPassword("");
         } else {
-            final String newPassword = new SimpleHash("SHA-1", password, passwordSecret).toString();
+            final String newPassword = new SimpleHash(HASH_ALGORITHM, password, passwordSecret).toString();
             setHashedPassword(newPassword);
         }
     }
 
     @Override
     public boolean isUserPassword(final String password, final String passwordSecret) {
-        final String oldPasswordHash = new SimpleHash("SHA-1", password, passwordSecret).toString();
+        final String oldPasswordHash = new SimpleHash(HASH_ALGORITHM, password, passwordSecret).toString();
         return getHashedPassword().equals(oldPasswordHash);
     }
 
@@ -247,7 +249,7 @@ public void setStartpage(final String type, final String id) {
             startpage.put("id", id);
         }
 
-        this.fields.put("startpage", startpage);
+        this.fields.put(STARTPAGE, startpage);
     }
 
     public static class LocalAdminUser extends UserImpl {
@@ -269,7 +271,7 @@ public String getFullName() {
         }
 
         public String getEmail() {
-            return "none";
+            return configuration.getRootEmail();
         }
 
         @Override
@@ -304,7 +306,7 @@ public long getSessionTimeoutMs() {
 
         @Override
         public DateTimeZone getTimeZone() {
-            return null;
+            return configuration.getRootTimeZone();
         }
 
         @Override
diff --git a/misc/graylog2.conf b/misc/graylog2.conf
index f6aa5883cb76..a12ccfea7efe 100644
--- a/misc/graylog2.conf
+++ b/misc/graylog2.conf
@@ -21,6 +21,14 @@ password_secret =
 # and put the resulting hash value into the following line
 root_password_sha2 =
 
+# The email address of the root user.
+# Default is empty
+#root_email = ""
+
+# The time zone setting of the root user.
+# Default is UTC
+#root_timezone = UTC
+
 # Set plugin directory here (relative or absolute)
 plugin_dir = plugin