diff --git a/pkg/disk/export_test.go b/pkg/disk/export_test.go
index f81043df13..329e85fe6c 100644
--- a/pkg/disk/export_test.go
+++ b/pkg/disk/export_test.go
@@ -1,8 +1,10 @@
 package disk
 
 var (
-	PayloadEntityMap = payloadEntityMap
-	EntityPath       = entityPath
+	PayloadEntityMap         = payloadEntityMap
+	EntityPath               = entityPath
+	AddBootPartition         = addBootPartition
+	AddPartitionsForBootMode = addPartitionsForBootMode
 )
 
 func FindDirectoryEntityPath(pt *PartitionTable, path string) []Entity {
diff --git a/pkg/disk/partition_table.go b/pkg/disk/partition_table.go
index 7c0cd01c2f..978b34d7fb 100644
--- a/pkg/disk/partition_table.go
+++ b/pkg/disk/partition_table.go
@@ -996,10 +996,10 @@ func EnsureRootFilesystem(pt *PartitionTable, defaultFsType FSType) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
-// AddBootPartition creates a boot partition. The function will append the boot
+// addBootPartition creates a boot partition. The function will append the boot
 // partition to the end of the existing partition table therefore it is best to
 // call this function early to put boot near the front (as is conventional).
-func AddBootPartition(pt *PartitionTable, bootFsType FSType) error {
+func addBootPartition(pt *PartitionTable, bootFsType FSType) error {
 	if bootFsType == FS_NONE {
 		return fmt.Errorf("error creating boot partition: no filesystem type")
 	}
@@ -1034,7 +1034,7 @@ func AddBootPartition(pt *PartitionTable, bootFsType FSType) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
-// AddPartitionsForBootMode creates partitions to satisfy the boot mode requirements:
+// addPartitionsForBootMode creates partitions to satisfy the boot mode requirements:
 //   - BIOS/legacy: adds a 1 MiB BIOS boot partition.
 //   - UEFI: adds a 200 MiB EFI system partition.
 //   - Hybrid: adds both.
@@ -1042,7 +1042,7 @@ func AddBootPartition(pt *PartitionTable, bootFsType FSType) error {
 // The function will append the new partitions to the end of the existing
 // partition table therefore it is best to call this function early to put them
 // near the front (as is conventional).
-func AddPartitionsForBootMode(pt *PartitionTable, bootMode platform.BootMode) error {
+func addPartitionsForBootMode(pt *PartitionTable, bootMode platform.BootMode) error {
 	switch bootMode {
 	case platform.BOOT_LEGACY:
 		// add BIOS boot partition
@@ -1155,6 +1155,28 @@ func (options *CustomPartitionTableOptions) getfstype(fstype string) (string, er
 	return options.DefaultFSType.String(), nil
 }
 
+func maybeAddBootPartition(pt *PartitionTable, disk *blueprint.DiskCustomization, defaultFSType FSType) error {
+	// The boot type will be the default only if it's a supported filesystem
+	// type for /boot (ext4 or xfs). Otherwise, we default to xfs.
+	// FS_NONE also falls back to xfs.
+	var bootFsType FSType
+	switch defaultFSType {
+	case FS_EXT4, FS_XFS:
+		bootFsType = defaultFSType
+	default:
+		bootFsType = FS_XFS
+	}
+
+	if needsBoot(disk) {
+		// we need a /boot partition to boot LVM or Btrfs, create boot
+		// partition if it does not already exist
+		if err := addBootPartition(pt, bootFsType); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
 // NewCustomPartitionTable creates a partition table based almost entirely on the disk customizations from a blueprint.
 func NewCustomPartitionTable(customizations *blueprint.DiskCustomization, options *CustomPartitionTableOptions, rng *rand.Rand) (*PartitionTable, error) {
 	if options == nil {
@@ -1184,30 +1206,18 @@ func NewCustomPartitionTable(customizations *blueprint.DiskCustomization, option
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("%s invalid partition table type enum value: %d", errPrefix, options.PartitionTableType)
 	}
 
+	// add any partition(s) that are needed for booting (like /boot/efi)
+	// if needed
+	//
 	// TODO: switch to ensure ESP in case customizations already include it
-	if err := AddPartitionsForBootMode(pt, options.BootMode); err != nil {
+	if err := addPartitionsForBootMode(pt, options.BootMode); err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("%s %w", errPrefix, err)
 	}
-
-	// The boot type will be the default only if it's a supported filesystem
-	// type for /boot (ext4 or xfs). Otherwise, we default to xfs.
-	// FS_NONE also falls back to xfs.
-	var bootFsType FSType
-	switch options.DefaultFSType {
-	case FS_EXT4, FS_XFS:
-		bootFsType = options.DefaultFSType
-	default:
-		bootFsType = FS_XFS
-	}
-
-	if needsBoot(customizations) {
-		// we need a /boot partition to boot LVM or Btrfs, create boot
-		// partition if it does not already exist
-		if err := AddBootPartition(pt, bootFsType); err != nil {
-			return nil, fmt.Errorf("%s %w", errPrefix, err)
-		}
+	// add the /boot partition (if it is needed)
+	if err := maybeAddBootPartition(pt, customizations, options.DefaultFSType); err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("%s %w", errPrefix, err)
 	}
-
+	// add user customized partitions
 	for _, part := range customizations.Partitions {
 		switch part.Type {
 		case "plain", "":