diff --git a/src/routes/api/sync.js b/src/routes/api/sync.js
index 5a23a25b6..044b853de 100644
--- a/src/routes/api/sync.js
+++ b/src/routes/api/sync.js
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 "use strict";
 
 const syncService = require('../../services/sync');
-const setupService = require('../../services/setup');
 const syncUpdateService = require('../../services/sync_update');
 const syncTableService = require('../../services/sync_table');
 const sql = require('../../services/sql');
@@ -12,16 +11,13 @@ const log = require('../../services/log');
 
 async function testSync() {
     try {
-        if (await setupService.isSyncServerInitialized()) {
-            await syncService.login();
+        await syncService.login();
 
-            return { success: true, message: "Sync server handshake has been successful" };
-        }
-        else {
-            await setupService.setupSyncToSyncServer();
+        // login was successful so we'll kick off sync now
+        // this is important in case when sync server has been just initialized
+        syncService.sync();
 
-            return { success: true, message: "Sync has been established to the server instance. It will take some time to finish." };
-        }
+        return { success: true, message: "Sync server handshake has been successful, sync has been started." };
     }
     catch (e) {
         return {
diff --git a/src/services/setup.js b/src/services/setup.js
index b3f240627..4f8ed7ce3 100644
--- a/src/services/setup.js
+++ b/src/services/setup.js
@@ -33,8 +33,6 @@ async function setupSyncToSyncServer() {
     // the previous request would have failed.
     await optionService.setOption('lastSyncedPush', 0);
     await optionService.setOption('lastSyncedPull', 0);
-
-    syncService.sync();
 }
 
 async function requestToSyncServer(method, path, body = null) {
diff --git a/src/services/sync.js b/src/services/sync.js
index c8c53f3ce..5cf8055d1 100644
--- a/src/services/sync.js
+++ b/src/services/sync.js
@@ -69,6 +69,16 @@ async function sync() {
 }
 
 async function login() {
+    const setupService = require('./setup'); // circular dependency issue
+
+    if (!await setupService.isSyncServerInitialized()) {
+        await setupService.setupSyncToSyncServer();
+    }
+
+    return await doLogin();
+}
+
+async function doLogin() {
     const timestamp = dateUtils.nowDate();
 
     const documentSecret = await optionService.getOption('documentSecret');