diff --git a/apps/server/AliasVault.Api/Program.cs b/apps/server/AliasVault.Api/Program.cs
index 1b557e976..365d51cb6 100644
--- a/apps/server/AliasVault.Api/Program.cs
+++ b/apps/server/AliasVault.Api/Program.cs
@@ -41,7 +41,10 @@ var config = new Config();
 var publicRegistrationEnabled = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("PUBLIC_REGISTRATION_ENABLED") ?? "false";
 config.PublicRegistrationEnabled = bool.Parse(publicRegistrationEnabled);
 
-var privateEmailDomains = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("PRIVATE_EMAIL_DOMAINS")?.Split(",").Select(d => d.Trim());
+var privateEmailDomains = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("PRIVATE_EMAIL_DOMAINS")?
+    .Split(",", StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries)
+    .Select(d => d.Trim())
+    .Where(d => !string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(d));
 config.PrivateEmailDomains = privateEmailDomains?.ToList() ?? new List<string>();
 
 var ipLoggingEnabled = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("IP_LOGGING_ENABLED") ?? "false";
diff --git a/apps/server/AliasVault.Client/Program.cs b/apps/server/AliasVault.Client/Program.cs
index bcd755141..a03a2412e 100644
--- a/apps/server/AliasVault.Client/Program.cs
+++ b/apps/server/AliasVault.Client/Program.cs
@@ -24,12 +24,6 @@ builder.Configuration.AddJsonFile($"appsettings.{builder.HostEnvironment.Environ
 
 var config = new Config();
 builder.Configuration.Bind(config);
-
-if (config.PrivateEmailDomains == null || config.PrivateEmailDomains.Count == 0)
-{
-    throw new KeyNotFoundException("PrivateEmailDomains is not set in the configuration.");
-}
-
 builder.Services.AddSingleton(config);
 
 // Add localization services
diff --git a/apps/server/AliasVault.Client/entrypoint.sh b/apps/server/AliasVault.Client/entrypoint.sh
index 5290bd323..8f94be757 100755
--- a/apps/server/AliasVault.Client/entrypoint.sh
+++ b/apps/server/AliasVault.Client/entrypoint.sh
@@ -29,8 +29,13 @@ fi
 # The app will use a relative URL instead (base url + "/api/" which is the default for the Docker setup).
 sed -i "s|\"ApiUrl\": \"http://localhost:5092\",||g" /usr/share/nginx/html/appsettings.json
 
-# Convert comma-separated list to JSON array
-json_array=$(echo $PRIVATE_EMAIL_DOMAINS | awk '{split($0,a,","); printf "["; for(i=1;i<=length(a);i++) {printf "\"%s\"", a[i]; if(i<length(a)) printf ","} printf "]"}')
+# Handle empty PRIVATE_EMAIL_DOMAINS by defaulting to empty array
+if [ -z "$PRIVATE_EMAIL_DOMAINS" ]; then
+    json_array="[]"
+else
+    # Convert comma-separated list to JSON array
+    json_array=$(echo $PRIVATE_EMAIL_DOMAINS | awk '{split($0,a,","); printf "["; for(i=1;i<=length(a);i++) {printf "\"%s\"", a[i]; if(i<length(a)) printf ","} printf "]"}')
+fi
 
 # Use sed to update the PrivateEmailDomains field in appsettings.json
 sed -i.bak "s|\"PrivateEmailDomains\": \[.*\]|\"PrivateEmailDomains\": $json_array|" /usr/share/nginx/html/appsettings.json
diff --git a/dockerfiles/docker-compose.build.yml b/dockerfiles/docker-compose.build.yml
index 931b12979..7243a4039 100644
--- a/dockerfiles/docker-compose.build.yml
+++ b/dockerfiles/docker-compose.build.yml
@@ -20,23 +20,23 @@ services:
     admin:
         image: aliasvault-admin
         build:
-            context: ../
-            dockerfile: ../apps/server/AliasVault.Admin/Dockerfile
+            context: .
+            dockerfile: apps/server/AliasVault.Admin/Dockerfile
 
     reverse-proxy:
         image: aliasvault-reverse-proxy
         build:
-            context: ../
-            dockerfile: ../apps/server/Dockerfile
+            context: .
+            dockerfile: apps/server/Dockerfile
 
     smtp:
         image: aliasvault-smtp
         build:
-            context: ../
-            dockerfile: ../apps/server/Services/AliasVault.SmtpService/Dockerfile
+            context: .
+            dockerfile: apps/server/Services/AliasVault.SmtpService/Dockerfile
 
     task-runner:
         image: aliasvault-task-runner
         build:
-            context: ../
-            dockerfile: ../apps/server/Services/AliasVault.TaskRunner/Dockerfile
+            context: .
+            dockerfile: apps/server/Services/AliasVault.TaskRunner/Dockerfile
diff --git a/dockerfiles/docker-compose.dev.yml b/dockerfiles/docker-compose.dev.yml
index abe863273..941c8ade5 100644
--- a/dockerfiles/docker-compose.dev.yml
+++ b/dockerfiles/docker-compose.dev.yml
@@ -4,8 +4,8 @@ services:
     ports:
       - "5433:5432"
     volumes:
-      - ../database/postgres-dev:/var/lib/postgresql/data:rw
-      - ../apps/server/Databases/AliasServerDb/postgresql.conf:/etc/postgresql/postgresql.conf
+      - ./database/postgres-dev:/var/lib/postgresql/data:rw
+      - ./apps/server/Databases/AliasServerDb/postgresql.conf:/etc/postgresql/postgresql.conf
     environment:
       - POSTGRES_DB=aliasvault
       - POSTGRES_USER=aliasvault
diff --git a/install.sh b/install.sh
index 0608981db..de50a9fcf 100755
--- a/install.sh
+++ b/install.sh
@@ -2705,7 +2705,7 @@ check_and_populate_env() {
     fi
 
     # PRIVATE_EMAIL_DOMAINS
-    if ! grep -q "^PRIVATE_EMAIL_DOMAINS=" "$ENV_FILE" || [ -z "$(grep "^PRIVATE_EMAIL_DOMAINS=" "$ENV_FILE" | cut -d '=' -f2)" ]; then
+    if ! grep -q "^PRIVATE_EMAIL_DOMAINS=" "$ENV_FILE"; then
         update_env_var "PRIVATE_EMAIL_DOMAINS" ""
         printf "  Set PRIVATE_EMAIL_DOMAINS\n"
     fi