diff --git a/src/main/java/uk/ac/soton/itinnovation/security/systemmodeller/InitializeManagementGraph.java b/src/main/java/uk/ac/soton/itinnovation/security/systemmodeller/InitializeManagementGraph.java
index a660d073..fd8a0032 100644
--- a/src/main/java/uk/ac/soton/itinnovation/security/systemmodeller/InitializeManagementGraph.java
+++ b/src/main/java/uk/ac/soton/itinnovation/security/systemmodeller/InitializeManagementGraph.java
@@ -71,6 +71,9 @@ public class InitializeManagementGraph implements CommandLineRunner {
 	@Value("${knowledgebases.install.folder}")
 	private String kbInstallFolder;
 
+	@Value("${check.installed.knowledgebases}")
+	private boolean checkDomainModelsAndPalettes;
+
 	@Override
 	public void run(String... args) {
 
@@ -252,67 +255,69 @@ public void run(String... args) {
 			}
 		}
 
-		//Final check of installed domain models and palettes
-		Map<String, Map<String, Object>> domainModels = storeModelManager.getDomainModels();
+		if (checkDomainModelsAndPalettes) {
+			//Final check of installed domain models and palettes
+			Map<String, Map<String, Object>> domainModels = storeModelManager.getDomainModels();
 
-		logger.info("Checking domain models and palettes...");
-		logger.info("");
+			logger.info("Checking domain models and palettes...");
+			logger.info("");
 
-		if (domainModels.keySet().size() > 0) {
-			boolean palettesExist = true;
+			if (domainModels.keySet().size() > 0) {
+				boolean palettesExist = true;
 
-			for (String domainModelUri : domainModels.keySet()) {
-				Map<String, Object> domainModel = domainModels.get(domainModelUri);
-				String title = (String) domainModel.get("title");
-				String label = (String) domainModel.get("label");
-				String version = (String) domainModel.get("version");
+				for (String domainModelUri : domainModels.keySet()) {
+					Map<String, Object> domainModel = domainModels.get(domainModelUri);
+					String title = (String) domainModel.get("title");
+					String label = (String) domainModel.get("label");
+					String version = (String) domainModel.get("version");
 
-				logger.info("URI: {}", domainModelUri);
-				logger.info("title: {}", title);
-				logger.info("label: {}", label);
-				logger.info("version: {}", version);
+					logger.info("URI: {}", domainModelUri);
+					logger.info("title: {}", title);
+					logger.info("label: {}", label);
+					logger.info("version: {}", version);
 
-				String domainModelName = title;
-				String domainModelFolderPath = kbInstallFolder + File.separator + domainModelName;
-				String palettePath = domainModelFolderPath + File.separator + "palette.json";
-				File paletteFile = new File(palettePath);
+					String domainModelName = title;
+					String domainModelFolderPath = kbInstallFolder + File.separator + domainModelName;
+					String palettePath = domainModelFolderPath + File.separator + "palette.json";
+					File paletteFile = new File(palettePath);
 
-				if (paletteFile.exists()) {
-					logger.info("palette: {}", paletteFile.getAbsolutePath());
-				}
-				else {
-					logger.error("palette: {}", paletteFile.getAbsolutePath() + " (missing)");
-					palettesExist = false;
-				}
+					if (paletteFile.exists()) {
+						logger.info("palette: {}", paletteFile.getAbsolutePath());
+					}
+					else {
+						logger.error("palette: {}", paletteFile.getAbsolutePath() + " (missing)");
+						palettesExist = false;
+					}
 
-				logger.info("");
-			}
+					logger.info("");
+				}
 
-			if (!palettesExist) {
-				logger.error("One or more palettes are missing (see details above)");
-				System.exit(1);
-			}
+				if (!palettesExist) {
+					logger.error("One or more palettes are missing (see details above)");
+					System.exit(1);
+				}
 
-			if (duplicatedDomainGraphs.size() > 0) {
-				logger.warn("Multiple zipfiles were found for the following domain graphs:");
-				for (String graphUri : duplicatedDomainGraphs) {
-					logger.warn(graphUri);
+				if (duplicatedDomainGraphs.size() > 0) {
+					logger.warn("Multiple zipfiles were found for the following domain graphs:");
+					for (String graphUri : duplicatedDomainGraphs) {
+						logger.warn(graphUri);
+					}
+					logger.info("");
 				}
-				logger.info("");
 			}
-		}
-		else {
-			boolean production = true;
-			String profile = System.getProperty("spring.profiles.active");
-			if ((profile != null) && (profile.equals("test") || profile.equals("dev"))) {
-				production = false;
-			}
-			logger.warn("No domain models currently installed! Options include:");
-			String restartMsg = production ? "restart Spyderisk (docker-compose down -v; docker-compose up -d)" 
-										   : "restart Spyderisk (ensure reset.on.start=true in application properties)";
+			else {
+				boolean production = true;
+				String profile = System.getProperty("spring.profiles.active");
+				if ((profile != null) && (profile.equals("test") || profile.equals("dev"))) {
+					production = false;
+				}
+				logger.warn("No domain models currently installed! Options include:");
+				String restartMsg = production ? "restart Spyderisk (docker-compose down -v; docker-compose up -d)" 
+											: "restart Spyderisk (ensure reset.on.start=true in application properties)";
 
-			logger.warn("1) Copy required domain model zip bundles into {} then " + restartMsg, kbSourceFolder);
-			logger.warn("2) Manually install each required domain model (knowledgebase) via the Spyderisk Knowledgebase Manager page");
+				logger.warn("1) Copy required domain model zip bundles into {} then " + restartMsg, kbSourceFolder);
+				logger.warn("2) Manually install each required domain model (knowledgebase) via the Spyderisk Knowledgebase Manager page");
+			}
 		}
 
 		logger.info("Finished management graph initialisation");
diff --git a/src/main/resources/application.properties b/src/main/resources/application.properties
index d3e3f721..995a4bdd 100755
--- a/src/main/resources/application.properties
+++ b/src/main/resources/application.properties
@@ -19,6 +19,9 @@ knowledgebases.source.folder=/code/knowledgebases
 # N.B. This should match the knowledgebases volume in docker-compose.yml
 knowledgebases.install.folder=/opt/spyderisk/knowledgebases
 
+# Check knowledgebases and palettes after start-up
+check.installed.knowledgebases=true
+
 # Enable response compression (set to true, if required)
 # N.B. this only applies to embedded Tomcat (e.g. via bootTest). For production servers, this is configured via the Tomcat server.xml file instead.
 server.compression.enabled=false
diff --git a/src/test/java/uk/ac/soton/itinnovation/security/systemmodeller/CommonTestSetup.java b/src/test/java/uk/ac/soton/itinnovation/security/systemmodeller/CommonTestSetup.java
index 0e756ef0..fb43c554 100644
--- a/src/test/java/uk/ac/soton/itinnovation/security/systemmodeller/CommonTestSetup.java
+++ b/src/test/java/uk/ac/soton/itinnovation/security/systemmodeller/CommonTestSetup.java
@@ -50,7 +50,11 @@
 /**
  * Represents common setup for the REST controller tests.
  */
-@TestPropertySource(properties = {"spring.data.mongodb.database=${test.spring.data.mongodb.database}", "reset.on.start=false"})
+@TestPropertySource(properties = {"spring.data.mongodb.database=${test.spring.data.mongodb.database}",
+                                    "reset.on.start=false",
+                                    "knowledgebases.install.folder=/opt/spyderisk/knowledgebases-test",
+                                    "check.installed.knowledgebases=false"
+})
 public abstract class CommonTestSetup {
 
     protected final Logger logger = LoggerFactory.getLogger(CommonTestSetup.class);
diff --git a/src/test/java/uk/ac/soton/itinnovation/security/systemmodeller/rest/DomainModelControllerTest.java b/src/test/java/uk/ac/soton/itinnovation/security/systemmodeller/rest/DomainModelControllerTest.java
index ae2fe660..538f32d3 100644
--- a/src/test/java/uk/ac/soton/itinnovation/security/systemmodeller/rest/DomainModelControllerTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/uk/ac/soton/itinnovation/security/systemmodeller/rest/DomainModelControllerTest.java
@@ -48,7 +48,9 @@
 import java.util.stream.Collectors;
 import java.util.zip.GZIPOutputStream;
 
+import org.apache.commons.io.FileUtils;
 import org.apache.http.HttpStatus;
+import org.junit.After;
 import org.junit.Before;
 import org.junit.Ignore;
 import org.junit.Rule;
@@ -113,9 +115,17 @@ public class DomainModelControllerTest extends CommonTestSetup {
 	private String NETWORK_TESTING_NEW_ZIP_PATH = "domainmanager/domain-network-testing-new.zip";
 
 	@Before
-	public void init() {
+	public void init() throws IOException {
 		logger.info("Executing {}", name.getMethodName());
 		initAuth(contextPath, port);
+		logger.info("Initialising knowledgebases installation folder: {}", kbInstallFolder);
+		FileUtils.deleteDirectory(new File(kbInstallFolder));
+	}
+
+	@After
+	public void cleanup() throws IOException {
+		logger.info("Removing knowledgebases installation folder: {}", kbInstallFolder);
+		FileUtils.deleteDirectory(new File(kbInstallFolder));
 	}
 
 	//Utilities