diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index a7cabd1..487342c 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ The executable is intended to run under systemd. The following instructions deta
 
 2. Copy `unifibackup.service` to `/etc/systemd/system`, and open the file in your favourite editor.
    1. Change the bucket to the one you want to upload to (see *IAM Policy* below for required permissions), and optionally override the destination prefix.
-   2. Set `AWS_REGION` to the region of the bucket above.
+   2. Set `AWS_REGION` to the region of the bucket above if necessary.
    3. If not using an instance profile, and credentials are not configured elsewhere, set the `AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID` and `AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY` environment variables.
 
 3. Execute the following as `root`:
diff --git a/unifibackup.service b/unifibackup.service
index 1dfbf82..afad1a8 100644
--- a/unifibackup.service
+++ b/unifibackup.service
@@ -12,8 +12,8 @@ Restart=on-failure
 # --timeout <duration, e.g. 10s> to set max duration per S3 operation
 ExecStart=/opt/unifibackup/unifibackup --bucket <changeme>
 
-# region of the S3 bucket passed in above, e.g. eu-west-2
-Environment=AWS_REGION=<changeme>
+# region of the S3 bucket passed in above, if different from current region, or running outside AWS
+#Environment=AWS_REGION=
 
 # ideally, these should not have to be provided, as the AWS SDK will retrieve
 # credentials from elsewhere (e.g. via the instance profile if running in EC2)