diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 7bc1a283f..dd750d0f4 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ Apache, though we will be expanding it to other platforms.
 ```
 sudo apt-get install python python-setuptools python-virtualenv \
   python-dev gcc swig dialog libssl-dev
-virtualenv --system-site-packages venv
+virtualenv --no-site-packages venv
 ./venv/bin/python setup.py install
 sudo ./venv/bin/letsencrypt
 ```