diff --git a/app/components/auth/auth.html b/app/components/auth/auth.html
index fe53cc0b5..f58276395 100644
--- a/app/components/auth/auth.html
+++ b/app/components/auth/auth.html
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
             <!-- username input -->
             <div class="input-group">
               <span class="input-group-addon"><i class="fa fa-user" aria-hidden="true"></i></span>
-              <input id="username" type="text" class="form-control" name="username" ng-model="formValues.Username" placeholder="admin" autofocus>
+              <input id="username" type="text" class="form-control" name="username" ng-model="formValues.Username" auto-focus>
             </div>
             <!-- !username input -->
             <!-- password input -->
diff --git a/app/components/initAdmin/initAdmin.html b/app/components/initAdmin/initAdmin.html
index 775a1b5e9..6fbcccaf9 100644
--- a/app/components/initAdmin/initAdmin.html
+++ b/app/components/initAdmin/initAdmin.html
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@
             <div class="form-group">
               <label for="password" class="col-sm-4 control-label text-left">Password</label>
               <div class="col-sm-8">
-                <input type="password" class="form-control" ng-model="formValues.Password" id="password">
+                <input type="password" class="form-control" ng-model="formValues.Password" id="password" auto-focus>
               </div>
             </div>
             <!-- !new-password-input -->
diff --git a/app/directives/autofocus.js b/app/directives/autofocus.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0b9029c33
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/directives/autofocus.js
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+angular
+.module('portainer')
+.directive('autoFocus', ['$timeout', function porAutoFocus($timeout) {
+  var directive = {
+    restrict: 'A',
+    link: function($scope, $element) {
+      $timeout(function() {
+        $element[0].focus();
+      });
+    }
+  };
+
+  return directive;
+}]);