diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index d3122c12c832c47d82ec50f8ac3b5471388b84b6..86679d7abab522af5ce2af5172348d08dd75f19b 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -108,7 +108,7 @@ resource "cloudstack_instance" "runner" {
   }
   provisioner "remote-exec" {
     when   = destroy
-    inline = ["sudo gitlab-runner unregister --all-runners"]
+    inline = ["sudo gitlab-runner unregister --all-runners || true"]
   }
 }
 ```
@@ -133,7 +133,9 @@ We cannot use a variable for passing the path to this file,
 since the connection is used by a destroy provisioner, that
 cannot refer to variables.
 This destroy provisioner executes `gitlab-runner unregister`
-before the destruction of the virtual machine.
+before the destruction of the virtual machine; failures are ignored
+in case of the `gitlab-runner` command was not yet installed
+when destroying occurs.
 
 ## The pipeline specification file [`.gitlab-ci.yml`](.gitlab-ci.yml)
 
diff --git a/main.tf b/main.tf
index 7c14476ea949e1ef0bf92bb25b077b9c4d54720c..96d7f640f5763a0b1d94bc91d31f61e4666f773f 100644
--- a/main.tf
+++ b/main.tf
@@ -55,6 +55,6 @@ resource "cloudstack_instance" "runner" {
   }
   provisioner "remote-exec" {
     when   = destroy
-    inline = ["sudo gitlab-runner unregister --all-runners"]
+    inline = ["sudo gitlab-runner unregister --all-runners || true"]
   }
 }