diff --git a/src/Umbraco.Core/Runtime/CoreRuntime.cs b/src/Umbraco.Core/Runtime/CoreRuntime.cs
index 0d967cb054..04eaba3f9a 100644
--- a/src/Umbraco.Core/Runtime/CoreRuntime.cs
+++ b/src/Umbraco.Core/Runtime/CoreRuntime.cs
@@ -307,9 +307,9 @@ namespace Umbraco.Core.Runtime
                 throw new BootFailedException("A connection string is configured but Umbraco could not connect to the database.");
             }
 
-            // if we already know we want to upgrade, no need to look for migrations...
-            if (_state.Level == RuntimeLevel.Upgrade)
-                return;
+            // if we already know we want to upgrade,
+            // still run EnsureUmbracoUpgradeState to get the states
+            // (v7 will just get a null state, that's ok)
 
             // else
             // look for a matching migration entry - bypassing services entirely - they are not 'up' yet
diff --git a/src/Umbraco.Web/Install/InstallSteps/UpgradeStep.cs b/src/Umbraco.Web/Install/InstallSteps/UpgradeStep.cs
index 33ceffe616..7d47139721 100644
--- a/src/Umbraco.Web/Install/InstallSteps/UpgradeStep.cs
+++ b/src/Umbraco.Web/Install/InstallSteps/UpgradeStep.cs
@@ -19,13 +19,12 @@ namespace Umbraco.Web.Install.InstallSteps
         {
             get
             {
-                var currentVersion = UmbracoVersion.Local;
-
-                //fixme - in this case there's a db but the version is cleared which is fine and a normal way to force the upgrader
-                // to execute, but before we would detect the current version via the DB like DatabaseSchemaResult.DetermineInstalledVersion
-                // what now, do we need to?
-                if (currentVersion == null)
-                    currentVersion = new Semver.SemVersion(0); 
+                // fixme - if UmbracoVersion.Local is null?
+                // it means that there is a database but the web.config version is cleared
+                // that was a "normal" way to force the upgrader to execute, and we would detect the current
+                // version via the DB like DatabaseSchemaResult.DetermineInstalledVersion - magic, do we really
+                // need this now?
+                var currentVersion = (UmbracoVersion.Local ?? new Semver.SemVersion(0)).ToString();
 
                 var newVersion = UmbracoVersion.SemanticVersion.ToString();