diff --git a/modules.d/45url-lib/url-lib.sh b/modules.d/45url-lib/url-lib.sh
index 79301469..5721294c 100755
--- a/modules.d/45url-lib/url-lib.sh
+++ b/modules.d/45url-lib/url-lib.sh
@@ -54,7 +54,12 @@ add_url_handler() {
 
 export CURL_HOME="/run/initramfs/url-lib"
 mkdir -p $CURL_HOME
-curl_args="--location --retry 3 --fail --show-error --progress-bar"
+curl_args="--location --retry 3 --fail --show-error"
+
+# technically "dumb" can handle the progress bar, but the only thing I've ever
+# seen using TERM=dumb is s390 CMS, and it's too dumb for --progress-bar
+[ "$TERM" != "dumb" ] && curl_args="$curl_args --progress-bar"
+
 curl_fetch_url() {
     local url="$1" outloc="$2"
     echo "$url" > /proc/self/fd/0