diff --git a/deployment/swift/swift-storage-container-puppet.yaml b/deployment/swift/swift-storage-container-puppet.yaml
index 474fdabf52..e7e4a5d088 100644
--- a/deployment/swift/swift-storage-container-puppet.yaml
+++ b/deployment/swift/swift-storage-container-puppet.yaml
@@ -330,12 +330,14 @@ outputs:
         step_3:
           # The puppet config sets this up but we don't have a way to mount the named
           # volume during the configuration stage.  We just need to create this
-          # directory and make sure it's owned by swift.
+          # directory and make sure it's owned by swift, as well as all
+          # immediate subdirectories (which might be mountpoints for additional
+          # disks).
           swift_setup_srv:
             image: &swift_account_image {get_param: ContainerSwiftAccountImage}
             net: none
             user: root
-            command: ['chown', '-R', 'swift:', '/srv/node']
+            command: ['find', '/srv/node', '-maxdepth', '1', '-type', 'd', '-exec', 'chown', 'swift:', '{}', ';']
             volumes:
               - /srv/node:/srv/node:z
             environment:
diff --git a/releasenotes/notes/swift-do-not-chown-recursive-1086879873cd9fa6.yaml b/releasenotes/notes/swift-do-not-chown-recursive-1086879873cd9fa6.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..9ace1727e1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releasenotes/notes/swift-do-not-chown-recursive-1086879873cd9fa6.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+---
+fixes:
+  - |
+    Do not change ownership recursive for Swift. This was required when
+    deployments upgraded from baremetal to containerized deployments.
+    However, by now all deployments should be containerized, and running chown
+    recursive against a large amount of data might timeout during upgrades.