diff --git a/pkg/registry/apis/provisioning/register.go b/pkg/registry/apis/provisioning/register.go
index 17be0330198..2ca48276be1 100644
--- a/pkg/registry/apis/provisioning/register.go
+++ b/pkg/registry/apis/provisioning/register.go
@@ -25,7 +25,10 @@ import (
 	"k8s.io/kube-openapi/pkg/spec3"
 	"k8s.io/kube-openapi/pkg/validation/spec"
 
+	"github.com/grafana/grafana-app-sdk/logging"
 	"github.com/grafana/grafana/pkg/apimachinery/identity"
+	"github.com/grafana/grafana/pkg/apis/dashboard"
+	folders "github.com/grafana/grafana/pkg/apis/folder/v0alpha1"
 	provisioning "github.com/grafana/grafana/pkg/apis/provisioning/v0alpha1"
 	grafanaregistry "github.com/grafana/grafana/pkg/apiserver/registry/generic"
 	clientset "github.com/grafana/grafana/pkg/generated/clientset/versioned"
@@ -463,6 +466,12 @@ func (b *APIBuilder) GetPostStartHooks() (map[string]genericapiserver.PostStartH
 				return err
 			}
 
+			// When starting with an empty instance -- swith to "mode 4+"
+			err = b.tryRunningOnlyUnifiedStorage()
+			if err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+
 			// Informer with resync interval used for health check and reconciliation
 			sharedInformerFactory := informers.NewSharedInformerFactory(c, 10*time.Second)
 			repoInformer := sharedInformerFactory.Provisioning().V0alpha1().Repositories()
@@ -814,3 +823,56 @@ func (b *APIBuilder) encryptSecrets(ctx context.Context, repo *provisioning.Repo
 	}
 	return nil
 }
+
+// FIXME: This logic does not belong in provisioning! (but required for now)
+// When starting an empty instance, we shift so that we never reference legacy storage
+// This should run somewhere else at startup by default (dual writer? dashboards?)
+func (b *APIBuilder) tryRunningOnlyUnifiedStorage() error {
+	ctx := context.Background()
+	if !dualwrite.IsReadingLegacyDashboardsAndFolders(ctx, b.storageStatus) {
+		return nil
+	}
+
+	// Count how many things exist
+	rsp, err := b.legacyMigrator.Migrate(ctx, legacy.MigrateOptions{
+		Namespace: "default", // FIXME! this works for single org, but need to check multi-org
+		Resources: []schema.GroupResource{{
+			Group: dashboard.GROUP, Resource: dashboard.DASHBOARD_RESOURCE,
+		}, {
+			Group: folders.GROUP, Resource: folders.RESOURCE,
+		}},
+		OnlyCount: true,
+	})
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("error getting legacy count %w", err)
+	}
+	for _, stats := range rsp.Summary {
+		if stats.Count > 0 {
+			return nil // something exists we can not just switch
+		}
+	}
+
+	logger := logging.DefaultLogger.With("logger", "provisioning startup")
+	mode5 := func(gr schema.GroupResource) error {
+		status, _ := b.storageStatus.Status(ctx, gr)
+		if !status.ReadUnified {
+			status.ReadUnified = true
+			status.WriteLegacy = false
+			status.WriteUnified = true
+			status.Runtime = false
+			status.Migrated = time.Now().UnixMilli()
+			_, err = b.storageStatus.Update(ctx, status)
+			logger.Info("set unified storage access", "group", gr.Group, "resource", gr.Resource)
+			return err
+		}
+		return nil // already reading unified
+	}
+
+	if err = mode5(dashboard.DashboardResourceInfo.GroupResource()); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	if err = mode5(folders.FolderResourceInfo.GroupResource()); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	return nil
+}
diff --git a/pkg/storage/legacysql/dualwrite/service.go b/pkg/storage/legacysql/dualwrite/service.go
index 563a14aa6b6..3fe8698bba3 100644
--- a/pkg/storage/legacysql/dualwrite/service.go
+++ b/pkg/storage/legacysql/dualwrite/service.go
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ func (m *service) StartMigration(ctx context.Context, gr schema.GroupResource, k
 			return v, fmt.Errorf("already migrated")
 		}
 		if key != v.UpdateKey {
-			return v, fmt.Errorf("key mismatch")
+			return v, fmt.Errorf("migration key mismatch")
 		}
 		if v.Migrating > 0 {
 			return v, fmt.Errorf("migration in progress")
@@ -120,7 +120,7 @@ func (m *service) Update(ctx context.Context, status StorageStatus) (StorageStat
 		return v, fmt.Errorf("no running status")
 	}
 	if status.UpdateKey != v.UpdateKey {
-		return v, fmt.Errorf("key mismatch")
+		return v, fmt.Errorf("key mismatch (resource: %s, expected:%d, received: %d)", v.Resource, v.UpdateKey, status.UpdateKey)
 	}
 	if status.Migrating > 0 {
 		return v, fmt.Errorf("update can not change migrating status")