diff --git a/kallithea/lib/utils2.py b/kallithea/lib/utils2.py
--- a/kallithea/lib/utils2.py
+++ b/kallithea/lib/utils2.py
@@ -31,7 +31,6 @@ import binascii
 import datetime
 import json
 import os
-import pwd
 import re
 import time
 import urllib.parse
@@ -45,6 +44,12 @@ from kallithea.lib.vcs.utils import asci
 from kallithea.lib.vcs.utils.lazy import LazyProperty
 
 
+try:
+    import pwd
+except ImportError:
+    pass
+
+
 # mute pyflakes "imported but unused"
 assert ascii_bytes
 assert ascii_str
@@ -331,7 +336,7 @@ def get_clone_url(clone_uri_tmpl, prefix
     prefix = urllib.parse.unquote(parsed_url.path.rstrip('/'))
     try:
         system_user = pwd.getpwuid(os.getuid()).pw_name
-    except Exception: # TODO: support all systems - especially Windows
+    except NameError: # TODO: support all systems - especially Windows
         system_user = 'kallithea' # hardcoded default value ...
     args = {
         'scheme': parsed_url.scheme,