diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 228a0e1..6549936 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -19,8 +19,8 @@ COPY ["./rootfs/", "/"]
 # Configuration and patches
 ARG WP_VERSION
 
-# Copy docker-optimized wp-config from official image
-COPY --from=wp-src ["/usr/src/wordpress/wp-config-docker.php", "/var/www/html/wp-config.php"]
+# Copy WordPress source from the official image
+COPY --from=wp-src ["/usr/src/wordpress/", "/var/www/html/"]
 
 COPY ["patches/${WP_VERSION}/wp-admin-update-core.patch", "/etc/wp-mods/"]
 
@@ -36,14 +36,12 @@ RUN chmod a+x /usr/local/bin/wp
 
 ARG WP_VERSION
 ENV WP_VERSION="${WP_VERSION}"
-ARG WP_LOCALE="en_US"
-ENV WP_LOCALE=${WP_LOCALE}
 ENV ENFORCE_DISABLE_WP_UPDATES=true
 ENV WP_CLI_DISABLE_AUTO_CHECK_UPDATE=true
 ENV CRON_ENABLED=true
 
 WORKDIR "/var/www/html/"
-VOLUME ["/root/.wp-cli", "/var/www/html", "/var/www/html/wp-content"]
+VOLUME ["/root/.wp-cli", "/var/www/html/wp-content"]
 
 LABEL maintainer="Aleksandar Puharic <aleksandar@puharic.com>"
 ENTRYPOINT ["/init"]
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index d8741e9..27ec7ab 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -19,6 +19,9 @@ Attempt to fix several of WordPress anti-patterns in ready to deploy container
   * If you need nginx, you can set it up as a reverse proxy
   * NGINX Unit is modern application server, replacing old PHP-FPM
   * Independent benchmarks have show that NGINX Unit can handle much higher load and remain stable
+- 2023-01-23 WordPress is no longer installed during runtime and it's bundled into the image
+  * This renders WP_LOCALE environment variable useless
+  * Instead, you will be offered to select locale during the first setup
 
 #### Public builds (docker)
 
diff --git a/rootfs/etc/cont-init.d/10-init-wordpress b/rootfs/etc/cont-init.d/10-verify-wordpress
similarity index 53%
rename from rootfs/etc/cont-init.d/10-init-wordpress
rename to rootfs/etc/cont-init.d/10-verify-wordpress
index 1321392..986bc4e 100755
--- a/rootfs/etc/cont-init.d/10-init-wordpress
+++ b/rootfs/etc/cont-init.d/10-verify-wordpress
@@ -22,28 +22,17 @@ function disableUpdatesPatch() {
   if [ "${DISABLE_WP_UPDATES}" != "false" ]; then
     echo "> Disabling WordPress updates..."
     patch /var/www/html/wp-admin/update-core.php </etc/wp-mods/wp-admin-update-core.patch
-    echo "> Making the patched file read-only..."
+    echo "> Marking the patched file read-only..."
     chmod 0440 /var/www/html/wp-admin/update-core.php
   fi
 }
 
-# Deletes known WordPress files
-function deleteWordPress() {
-  echo "> Deleting WordPress installation (core files)"
-
-  # Instead of one-line find, we're taking a bit conservative approach and separating file and directory removal
-  # This is to ensure that this script never runs on unintended set of files as it's data loss risk
-  rm -rf "/var/www/html/"{wp-includes,wp-admin}
-  rm -rf "/var/www/html/"{.htaccess,index.php,license.txt,readme.html,wp-activate.php,wp-blog-header.php,wp-comments-post.php,wp-config-sample.php.php,wp-cron.php,wp-links-opml.php,wp-load.php,wp-login.php,wp-mail.php,wp-settings.php,wp-signup.php,wp-trackback.php,xmlrpc.php}
-}
-
 # Main function
 function main() {
   # Removes trailing zero if found
   # This is required due to inconsistencies between WodPress docker image versioning and wp-cli core download
   # If patch version is 0, it is not considered by wp-cli.
   WP_VERSION=$(echo "${WP_VERSION:?}" | sed --expression='s/.0$//g')
-  WP_LOCALE="${WP_LOCALE:?}"
 
   echo "> Verifying 'WordPress ${WP_VERSION}' installation..."
   WP_INSTALLED_VERSION="$(wp core version)"
@@ -51,22 +40,26 @@ function main() {
   set -e
 
   if [ -z "${WP_INSTALLED_VERSION}" ]; then
-    echo "> WordPress is not present"
-    echo "> Downloading 'WordPress ${WP_VERSION}'..."
-    deleteWordPress
-    wp core download --locale="${WP_LOCALE}" --version="${WP_VERSION}"
-    disableUpdatesPatch
+    echo "> ERROR! WordPress installation does not seem to be present or valid. Continuing anyway..."
+    return 0
   elif [ "${WP_INSTALLED_VERSION}" != "${WP_VERSION}" ]; then
-    echo "> WordPress version mismatch"
-    echo "> Expected version: ${WP_VERSION}"
-    echo "> Detected version: ${WP_INSTALLED_VERSION}"
-    echo "> Scraping current files"
-    deleteWordPress
-    echo "> Downloading WordPress version '${WP_VERSION}'..."
-    wp core download --locale="${WP_LOCALE}" --version="${WP_VERSION}"
-    disableUpdatesPatch
+    echo "> WARNING! WordPress version mismatch"
+    echo "  Expected version: ${WP_VERSION}"
+    echo "  Detected version: ${WP_INSTALLED_VERSION}"
+    echo "> Seems like WordPress installation got updated outside image scope"
+    echo "  - This is dangerous as changes will not persist when container is recreated which might lead to inconsistencies between installation and the database."
+    echo "  - You should assume that recreating the container will render the website inoperable."
+    echo "  - Please make sure that you're running image: nlss/wordpress:${WP_VERSION}"
+    return 0
   else
     echo "> Identified 'WordPress ${WP_VERSION}'"
+
+    # This will apply patch once and again only if container is recreated
+    if [ ! -f "/var/www/patch-applied" ]; then
+        disableUpdatesPatch
+        touch "/var/www/patch-applied"
+    fi
+
   fi
 }
 
diff --git a/rootfs/usr/src/.gitkeep b/rootfs/usr/src/.gitkeep
deleted file mode 100644
index e69de29..0000000