diff --git a/run/scripts/start b/run/scripts/start
index b19a2128b504271c99e4a81225ba4ec1f33170f0..bec088c6deb9da3c964068154a63259b4e53d32c 100755
--- a/run/scripts/start
+++ b/run/scripts/start
@@ -14,6 +14,16 @@ function getConfig {
         esac
     done
   fi
+  if [[ ! -n ${COMPOSER_DOWNGRADE} ]]; then
+    while true; do
+        read -p "Do you want to downgrade Composer to version 1? " COMPOSER_DOWNGRADE
+        case ${COMPOSER_DOWNGRADE} in
+            0 ) break;;
+            1 ) break;;
+            * ) echo "Only 1 or 0 are valid responses.";;
+        esac
+    done
+  fi
   if [[ ! -n ${COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME} ]]; then
     read -p "Name your project (used as subdomain): " COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME
   fi
@@ -29,6 +39,7 @@ function startContainer {
         --hostname ${COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME}-l3d \
         --env L3DSHELL=${L3DSHELL} \
         --env COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME=${COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME} \
+        --env COMPOSER_DOWNGRADE=${COMPOSER_DOWNGRADE} \
         --env PHP_VERSION=${PHP_VERSION} \
         --env SSH_AUTH_SOCK=${SSHAUTHSOCK} \
         --volume /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock \
diff --git a/setup/scripts/l3d b/setup/scripts/l3d
index 564f0d2a36d6b0496b604c823324f99568e4b13e..5fad170b20210a532ae96bd84a05fcdc793edcf8 100755
--- a/setup/scripts/l3d
+++ b/setup/scripts/l3d
@@ -54,5 +54,6 @@ docker exec -it \
   --env SSHAUTHSOCK=${SSHAUTHSOCK} \
   --env PHP_VERSION=${PHP_VERSION} \
   --env COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME=${COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME} \
+  --env COMPOSER_DOWNGRADE=${COMPOSER_DOWNGRADE} \
   l3drun \
   /usr/local/bin/run $@
diff --git a/start.sh b/start.sh
index 96567d02db224c4860b2539791b2c315c72fb97c..a82b33cbd3f813bac608b7f61de95d07117fb62e 100755
--- a/start.sh
+++ b/start.sh
@@ -181,6 +181,9 @@ function initialSetup {
 }
 
 readEnv
+if [[ "$COMPOSER_DOWNGRADE" == "1" ]]; then
+  composer self-update --1
+fi
 EXISTING=$(ls -1)
 if [[ -z "$EXISTING" ]]; then
   if [[ -n ${PROJECT} ]]; then