diff --git a/scripts/functions.sh b/scripts/functions.sh
index 843cc431..b7a3f0fc 100644
--- a/scripts/functions.sh
+++ b/scripts/functions.sh
@@ -340,12 +340,12 @@ function geoserver_logging() {
 }
 
 # Function to read env variables from secrets
-function file_env {
+function file_env() {
 	local var="$1"
 	local fileVar="${var}_FILE"
-	local def="${1:-}"
+	local def="${2:-}"
 	if [ "${!var:-}" ] && [ "${!fileVar:-}" ]; then
-		echo >&2 "error: both $var and $fileVar are set (but are exclusive)"
+		printf >&2 'error: both %s and %s are set (but are exclusive)\n' "$var" "$fileVar"
 		exit 1
 	fi
 	local val="$def"
@@ -357,7 +357,6 @@ function file_env {
 	export "$var"="$val"
 	unset "$fileVar"
 }
-
 # Credits to https://github.com/korkin25 from https://github.com/kartoza/docker-geoserver/pull/371
 function set_vars() {
   if [ -z "${INSTANCE_STRING}" ];then
diff --git a/scripts/update_passwords.sh b/scripts/update_passwords.sh
index a9d20e21..97ff72c0 100644
--- a/scripts/update_passwords.sh
+++ b/scripts/update_passwords.sh
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ if [[ "${USE_DEFAULT_CREDENTIALS}" =~ [Ff][Aa][Ll][Ss][Ee] ]]; then
   fi
 
   # Set random password if none provided
+  file_env 'GEOSERVER_ADMIN_PASSWORD'
   if [[ -z ${GEOSERVER_ADMIN_PASSWORD} ]]; then
         generate_random_string 15
         GEOSERVER_ADMIN_PASSWORD=${RAND}