diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 05be9dc29b2..308369efd32 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -195,15 +195,17 @@ done
 OSNAME=`uname -s`
 
 if [ "$TF_NEED_MKL" == "1" ]; then # TF_NEED_MKL
-  fromuser=""
-  read -p "Do you wish to download MKL LIB from the web? [Y/n] " INPUT
-  fromuser="1"
-  case $INPUT in
-    [Yy]* ) TF_DOWNLOAD_MKL=1;;
-    [Nn]* ) TF_DOWNLOAD_MKL=0;;
-    "" )    TF_DOWNLOAD_MKL=1;;
-    * )     echo "Invalid selection: " $INPUT; exit 1;;
-  esac
+  while [ "$TF_DOWNLOAD_MKL" == "" ]; do
+    fromuser=""
+    read -p "Do you wish to download MKL LIB from the web? [Y/n] " INPUT
+    fromuser="1"
+    case $INPUT in
+      [Yy]* ) TF_DOWNLOAD_MKL=1;;
+      [Nn]* ) TF_DOWNLOAD_MKL=0;;
+      "" )    TF_DOWNLOAD_MKL=1;;
+      * )     echo "Invalid selection: " $INPUT; exit 1;;
+    esac
+  done
 
   if [[ "$TF_DOWNLOAD_MKL" == "1" ]]; then
     DST=`dirname $0`
@@ -263,10 +265,6 @@ if [ "$TF_NEED_MKL" == "1" ]; then # TF_NEED_MKL
       exit 1
   fi
 
-  if [ -z "$fromuser" ]; then
-      exit 1
-  fi
-
 cat > third_party/mkl/mkl.config <<EOF
 # MKL_INSTALL_PATH refers to the location of MKL root folder. The MKL header and library
 # files can be either in this directory, or under include/ and lib64/