diff --git a/tools/ansible/roles/dockerfile/files/launch_awx.sh b/tools/ansible/roles/dockerfile/files/launch_awx.sh
index 8a7af3c4de..f6ea73bbcc 100755
--- a/tools/ansible/roles/dockerfile/files/launch_awx.sh
+++ b/tools/ansible/roles/dockerfile/files/launch_awx.sh
@@ -17,4 +17,11 @@ set -e
 
 wait-for-migrations
 
+# This file will be re-written when the dispatcher calls reconfigure_rsyslog(),
+# but it needs to exist when supervisor initially starts rsyslog to prevent the
+# container from crashing. This was the most minimal config I could get working.
+cat << EOF > /var/lib/awx/rsyslog/rsyslog.conf
+action(type="omfile" file="/dev/null")
+EOF
+
 supervisord -c /etc/supervisord.conf