diff --git a/config/initializers/default_theme.rb b/config/initializers/default_theme.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6045a1a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/config/initializers/default_theme.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+# create the symlink to the default theme if it does not exist
+default = File.join(RAILS_ROOT, 'public', 'designs', 'themes', 'default')
+if !File.exists?(default)
+  File.symlink('noosfero', default)
+end
diff --git a/public/designs/themes/default b/public/designs/themes/default
deleted file mode 120000
index b1a3911..0000000
--- a/public/designs/themes/default
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-noosfero
\ No newline at end of file
--
libgit2 0.21.2