diff --git a/libpod/sqlite_state.go b/libpod/sqlite_state.go
index e3bd5022fe..2dc1bb384f 100644
--- a/libpod/sqlite_state.go
+++ b/libpod/sqlite_state.go
@@ -40,13 +40,17 @@ const (
 	sqliteOptionForeignKeys = "&_foreign_keys=1"
 	// Make sure that transactions happen exclusively.
 	sqliteOptionTXLock = "&_txlock=exclusive"
+	// Make sure busy timeout is set to high value to keep retying when the db is locked.
+	// Timeout is in ms, so set it to 100s to have enough time to retry the operations.
+	sqliteOptionBusyTimeout = "&_busy_timeout=100000"
 
 	// Assembled sqlite options used when opening the database.
 	sqliteOptions = "db.sql?" +
 		sqliteOptionLocation +
 		sqliteOptionSynchronous +
 		sqliteOptionForeignKeys +
-		sqliteOptionTXLock
+		sqliteOptionTXLock +
+		sqliteOptionBusyTimeout
 )
 
 // NewSqliteState creates a new SQLite-backed state database.