diff --git a/dnet_user_services_perms/tasks/dnet-other-services-users.yml b/dnet_user_services_perms/tasks/dnet-other-services-users.yml
index 82ca5af2..08efdbab 100644
--- a/dnet_user_services_perms/tasks/dnet-other-services-users.yml
+++ b/dnet_user_services_perms/tasks/dnet-other-services-users.yml
@@ -2,7 +2,5 @@
 # Ignore errors because it fails if the user is already present and used to run a service.
 - name: Create users needed to operate services other than the dnet ones
   user: name={{ item.user }} comment="{{ item.user }}" home={{ item.home }} createhome={{ item.createhome }} shell={{ item.shell }}
-  with_items: '{{ dnet_other_services_users }}'
-  when: dnet_other_services_users is defined
-  ignore_errors: True
+  with_items: '{{ dnet_other_services_users | default([]) }}'
   tags: [ 'users', 'dnet' ]
diff --git a/dnet_user_services_perms/tasks/dnet-users-data-dirs.yml b/dnet_user_services_perms/tasks/dnet-users-data-dirs.yml
index dc8c1684..9dfd0290 100644
--- a/dnet_user_services_perms/tasks/dnet-users-data-dirs.yml
+++ b/dnet_user_services_perms/tasks/dnet-users-data-dirs.yml
@@ -1,25 +1,25 @@
 ---
 - name: Create the users dnet data dirs
   file: name={{ item.name }} state=directory owner={{ item.owner }} group={{ item.group }} mode={{ item.perms }}
-  with_items: '{{ dnet_users_data_directories }}'
+  with_items: '{{ dnet_users_data_directories | default([]) }}'
   when: item.create and not item.file
   tags: [ 'dnet', 'users', 'dnet_u_acl' ]
 
 - name: Set the read/write/access permissions on the users dnet data dirs
   acl: name={{ item.name }} entity={{ dnet_group }} etype=group permissions={{ item.aclperms | default ('rwx') }} state=present
-  with_items: '{{ dnet_users_data_directories }}'
+  with_items: '{{ dnet_users_data_directories | default([])  }}'
   when: not item.file
   tags: [ 'dnet', 'users', 'dnet_u_acl' ]
 
 - name: Set the default read/write/access permissions on the users dnet data dirs
   acl: name={{ item.name }} entity={{ dnet_group }} etype=group permissions={{ item.aclperms | default ('rwx') }} state=present default=yes
-  with_items: '{{ dnet_users_data_directories }}'
+  with_items: '{{ dnet_users_data_directories | default([])  }}'
   when: not item.file
   tags: [ 'dnet', 'users', 'dnet_u_acl' ]
 
 - name: Set the read/write permissions on pre-existing files inside the users dnet data dirs
   acl: name={{ item.name }} entity={{ dnet_group }} etype=group permissions={{ item.aclperms | default ('rw') }} state=present
-  with_items: '{{ dnet_users_data_directories }}'
+  with_items: '{{ dnet_users_data_directories | default([])  }}'
   when: item.file
   tags: [ 'dnet', 'users', 'dnet_u_acl' ]