diff --git a/setup/so-functions b/setup/so-functions
index 4d7019ab1..d3747f3b5 100755
--- a/setup/so-functions
+++ b/setup/so-functions
@@ -1001,12 +1001,14 @@ installer_progress_loop() {
 	local i=0
 	while true; do
 		((i++))
-		set_progress_str "$i" 'Checking that all required packages are installed and enabled...'
+		set_progress_str "$i" 'Checking that all required packages are installed and enabled...' nolog
 		[[ $i -gt 0 ]] && sleep 5s
 	done
 }
 
 installer_prereq_packages() {
+	installer_progress_loop & # Run progress bar to 100 in ~8 minutes
+	progress_bg_proc=$!
 
 	if [ "$OS" == centos ]; then
 		# Print message to stdout so the user knows setup is doing something
@@ -1042,6 +1044,13 @@ installer_prereq_packages() {
 		fi
 		retry 50 10 "apt-get -y install curl"  >> "$setup_log" 2>&1 || exit 1
 	fi
+
+	install_success=$?
+	kill -9 "$progress_bg_proc"  >> "$setup_log" 2>&1
+	if [[ $install_success -gt 0 ]]; then
+		echo "Could not install packages required for setup, exiting now." >> "$setup_log" 2>&1
+		kill -SIGUSR1 "$setup_proc"  >> "$setup_log" 2>&1; exit 1
+	fi
 }
 
 disable_auto_start() {
@@ -2369,6 +2378,7 @@ set_progress_str() {
 	local percentage_input=$1
 	progress_bar_text=$2
 	export progress_bar_text
+	local nolog=$2
 
 	if (( "$percentage_input" >= "$percentage" )); then
 		percentage="$percentage_input"
@@ -2378,12 +2388,14 @@ set_progress_str() {
 
 	echo -e "$percentage_str"
 
-	info "Progressing ($percentage%): $progress_bar_text"
+	if [[ -z $nolog ]]; then
+		info "Progressing ($percentage%): $progress_bar_text"
 
-	printf '%s\n' \
-	'----'\
-	"$percentage% - ${progress_bar_text^^}"\
-	"----" >> "$setup_log" 2>&1
+		# printf '%s\n' \
+		# 	'----'\
+		# 	"$percentage% - ${progress_bar_text^^}"\
+		# 	"----" >> "$setup_log" 2>&1
+	fi
 }
 
 set_ssh_cmds() {
diff --git a/setup/so-setup b/setup/so-setup
index 691ba3871..46b005a5e 100755
--- a/setup/so-setup
+++ b/setup/so-setup
@@ -95,6 +95,16 @@ if ! [ -f $install_opt_file ]; then
 	analyze_system
 fi
 
+# Set up handler for setup to exit early (use `kill -SIGUSR1 "$setup_proc"; exit 1` in child scripts)
+trap 'catch $LINENO' SIGUSR1
+setup_proc="$$"
+catch() {
+	info "Fatal error occurred at $1 in so-setup, failing setup."
+	grep --color=never "ERROR" "$setup_log" > "$error_log"
+	whiptail_setup_failed
+	exit 1
+}
+
 automated=no
 progress() {
 	local title='Security Onion Setup'
@@ -107,16 +117,6 @@ progress() {
 	fi		
 }
 
-# Set up handler for setup to exit early (use `kill -SIGUSR1 "$setup_proc"; exit 1` in child scripts)
-trap 'catch $LINENO' SIGUSR1
-setup_proc="$$"
-catch() {
-	info "Fatal error occurred at $1 in so-setup, failing setup."
-	grep --color=never "ERROR" "$setup_log" > "$error_log"
-	whiptail_setup_failed
-	exit 1
-}
-
 detect_os 
 
 if [[ -f automation/$automation && $(basename $automation) == $automation ]]; then
@@ -167,7 +167,6 @@ set_ssh_cmds $automated
 local_sbin="$(pwd)/../salt/common/tools/sbin"
 export PATH=$PATH:$local_sbin
 
-installer_prereq_packages && detect_cloud
 set_network_dev_status_list
 
 if [ "$OS" == ubuntu ]; then
@@ -282,16 +281,8 @@ fi
 
 percentage=0
 {
-	installer_progress_loop & # Run progress bar to 100 in ~8 minutes
-	progress_bg_proc=$!
 	installer_prereq_packages
-	install_success=$?
-	kill -9 $progress_bg_proc &> /dev/null
-	if [[ $install_success -gt 0 ]]; then
-		error "Could not install packages required for setup, exiting now."
-		kill -SIGUSR1 "$setup_proc" &> /dev/null; exit 1
-	fi
-	set_progress_str 99 "Detecting whether setup is running in the cloud."
+	set_progress_str 99 "Detecting whether setup is running in the cloud." nolog
 	detect_cloud
 } | progress '...'