diff --git a/multinode-demo/fullnode.sh b/multinode-demo/fullnode.sh
index e36b657095..c5cd99edad 100755
--- a/multinode-demo/fullnode.sh
+++ b/multinode-demo/fullnode.sh
@@ -167,12 +167,12 @@ rsync_url() { # adds the 'rsync://` prefix to URLs that need it
 
 rsync_leader_url=$(rsync_url "$leader")
 set -ex
+if [[ ! -d "$SOLANA_RSYNC_CONFIG_DIR"/ledger ]]; then
+  $rsync -vPr "$rsync_leader_url"/config/ledger "$SOLANA_RSYNC_CONFIG_DIR"/ledger
+fi
+
 if [[ ! -d "$ledger_config_dir" ]]; then
-  $rsync -vPr "$rsync_leader_url"/config/ledger/ "$ledger_config_dir"
-  [[ -d $ledger_config_dir ]] || {
-    echo "Unable to retrieve ledger from $rsync_leader_url"
-    exit 1
-  }
+  cp -ra "$SOLANA_RSYNC_CONFIG_DIR"/ledger "$ledger_config_dir"
   $solana_ledger_tool --ledger "$ledger_config_dir" verify
 
 fi