diff --git a/meta/recipes-extended/libtirpc/libtirpc_1.3.3.bb b/meta/recipes-extended/libtirpc/libtirpc_1.3.3.bb
index 8c6c20733c..f55e0b0ed1 100644
--- a/meta/recipes-extended/libtirpc/libtirpc_1.3.3.bb
+++ b/meta/recipes-extended/libtirpc/libtirpc_1.3.3.bb
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ inherit autotools pkgconfig
 EXTRA_OECONF = "--disable-gssapi"
 
 do_install:append() {
-	chown root:root ${D}${sysconfdir}/netconfig
+	test -e ${D}${sysconfdir}/netconfig && chown root:root ${D}${sysconfdir}/netconfig
 }
 
 BBCLASSEXTEND = "native nativesdk"