diff --git a/container b/container
index b82276da2..72d565845 100755
--- a/container
+++ b/container
@@ -286,11 +286,11 @@ def _get_systemd_nspawn_version():
 
 def _download_file(url, target_file, force=False):
     """Download a file from remote URL."""
-    if target_file.exists() and not force:
-        return
-
-    if force:
-        os.remove(target_file)
+    if target_file.exists():
+        if force:
+            os.remove(target_file)
+        else:
+            return
 
     partial_file = target_file.with_suffix(target_file.suffix + '.partial')
 
@@ -805,8 +805,12 @@ def _get_latest_image_timestamp(distribution):
 
 def _is_update_required(distribution):
     """Compare local image timestamp against the latest image timestamp."""
-    filename = URLS[distribution].split('/')[-1]
-    local_image_timestamp = os.path.getmtime(work_directory / filename)
+    file_path = work_directory / URLS[distribution].split('/')[-1]
+
+    if not file_path.exists():
+        return True
+
+    local_image_timestamp = os.path.getmtime(file_path)
     one_day = datetime.timedelta(days=1).total_seconds()
     latest_image_timestamp = _get_latest_image_timestamp(distribution)
     return latest_image_timestamp - local_image_timestamp > one_day