diff --git a/tester.py b/tester.py
index 095d68399379fcc080b00c16b20828f6a502108f..8e3276bc8da5bf65ffc078fd0a98eec43b424292 100755
--- a/tester.py
+++ b/tester.py
@@ -236,7 +236,8 @@ class Tester():
                 # TODO:
                 # subprocess.check_call(['git', 'checkout', 'stable'])
                 subprocess.check_call(['git', 'pull', '--recurse-submodules'])
-                subprocess.check_call(['git', 'submodule', 'update', '--recursive'])
+                subprocess.check_call(['git', 'submodule', 'init'])
+                subprocess.check_call(['git', 'submodule', 'update', '--init', '--recursive'])
                 os.chdir(self.root_dir)
             else:
                 log('Cloning ms-testing-suite in "%s".' % ms_path)