diff --git a/Makefile-tests.am b/Makefile-tests.am
index 9198eb3183..350209dedb 100644
--- a/Makefile-tests.am
+++ b/Makefile-tests.am
@@ -116,6 +116,7 @@ _installed_or_uninstalled_test_scripts = \
 	tests/test-pull-mirrorlist.sh \
 	tests/test-summary-update.sh \
 	tests/test-summary-view.sh \
+	tests/test-no-initramfs.sh \
 	$(NULL)
 
 experimental_test_scripts = \
diff --git a/src/boot/grub2/ostree-grub-generator b/src/boot/grub2/ostree-grub-generator
index ad8c2b8301..3985008f42 100644
--- a/src/boot/grub2/ostree-grub-generator
+++ b/src/boot/grub2/ostree-grub-generator
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ entries_path=$(dirname $new_grub2_cfg)/entries
 
 read_config()
 {
-    config_file=${entries_path}/${1}
+    config_file=${1}
     title=""
     initrd=""
     options=""
@@ -67,11 +67,13 @@ populate_menu()
     else
         boot_prefix="${OSTREE_BOOT_PARTITION}"
     fi
-    for config in $(ls ${entries_path}); do
+    for config in $(ls $entries_path/*.conf); do
         read_config ${config}
         menu="${menu}menuentry '${title}' {\n"
         menu="${menu}\t linux ${boot_prefix}${linux} ${options}\n"
-        menu="${menu}\t initrd ${boot_prefix}${initrd}\n"
+        if [ -n "${initrd}" ] ; then
+            menu="${menu}\t initrd ${boot_prefix}${initrd}\n"
+        fi
         menu="${menu}}\n\n"
     done
     # The printf command seems to be more reliable across shells for special character (\n, \t) evaluation
diff --git a/src/libostree/ostree-sysroot-deploy.c b/src/libostree/ostree-sysroot-deploy.c
index 29c90ea7f5..5dc5bde074 100644
--- a/src/libostree/ostree-sysroot-deploy.c
+++ b/src/libostree/ostree-sysroot-deploy.c
@@ -1700,21 +1700,29 @@ install_deployment_kernel (OstreeSysroot   *sysroot,
   g_autofree char * boot_relpath = g_strconcat ("/", bootcsumdir, "/", kernel_layout->kernel_namever, NULL);
   ostree_bootconfig_parser_set (bootconfig, "linux", boot_relpath);
 
+  val = ostree_bootconfig_parser_get (bootconfig, "options");
+  g_autoptr(OstreeKernelArgs) kargs = _ostree_kernel_args_from_string (val);
+
   if (kernel_layout->initramfs_namever)
     {
       g_autofree char * boot_relpath = g_strconcat ("/", bootcsumdir, "/", kernel_layout->initramfs_namever, NULL);
       ostree_bootconfig_parser_set (bootconfig, "initrd", boot_relpath);
     }
-
-  val = ostree_bootconfig_parser_get (bootconfig, "options");
+  else
+    {
+      g_autofree char *prepare_root_arg = NULL;
+      prepare_root_arg = g_strdup_printf ("init=/ostree/boot.%d/%s/%s/%d/usr/lib/ostree/ostree-prepare-root",
+                                             new_bootversion, osname, bootcsum,
+                                             ostree_deployment_get_bootserial (deployment));
+      _ostree_kernel_args_replace_take (kargs, g_steal_pointer (&prepare_root_arg));
+    }
 
   /* Note this is parsed in ostree-impl-system-generator.c */
   g_autofree char *ostree_kernel_arg = g_strdup_printf ("ostree=/ostree/boot.%d/%s/%s/%d",
                                        new_bootversion, osname, bootcsum,
                                        ostree_deployment_get_bootserial (deployment));
-  g_autoptr(OstreeKernelArgs) kargs = _ostree_kernel_args_from_string (val);
-  _ostree_kernel_args_replace_take (kargs, ostree_kernel_arg);
-  ostree_kernel_arg = NULL;
+  _ostree_kernel_args_replace_take (kargs, g_steal_pointer (&ostree_kernel_arg));
+
   g_autofree char *options_key = _ostree_kernel_args_to_string (kargs);
   ostree_bootconfig_parser_set (bootconfig, "options", options_key);
 
diff --git a/tests/test-no-initramfs.sh b/tests/test-no-initramfs.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..dcd21ee1c8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test-no-initramfs.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+. $(dirname $0)/libtest.sh
+
+echo "1..3"
+
+setup_os_repository "archive-z2" "uboot"
+
+cd ${test_tmpdir}
+
+${CMD_PREFIX} ostree --repo=sysroot/ostree/repo remote add --set=gpg-verify=false testos $(cat httpd-address)/ostree/testos-repo
+${CMD_PREFIX} ostree --repo=sysroot/ostree/repo pull testos testos/buildmaster/x86_64-runtime
+${CMD_PREFIX} ostree admin deploy --karg=root=LABEL=rootfs --os=testos testos:testos/buildmaster/x86_64-runtime
+
+assert_file_has_content sysroot/boot/loader/entries/ostree-testos-0.conf 'root=LABEL=rootfs'
+assert_not_file_has_content sysroot/boot/loader/entries/ostree-testos-0.conf 'init='
+
+echo "ok deployment with initramfs"
+
+cd ${test_tmpdir}/osdata/boot
+rm -f initramfs* vmlinuz*
+echo "the kernel only" > vmlinuz-3.6.0
+bootcsum=$(cat vmlinuz-3.6.0 | sha256sum | cut -f 1 -d ' ')
+mv vmlinuz-3.6.0 vmlinuz-3.6.0-${bootcsum}
+cd -
+${CMD_PREFIX} ostree --repo=${test_tmpdir}/testos-repo commit --tree=dir=osdata/ -b testos/buildmaster/x86_64-runtime
+${CMD_PREFIX} ostree pull testos:testos/buildmaster/x86_64-runtime
+${CMD_PREFIX} ostree admin deploy --os=testos --karg=root=/dev/sda2 --karg=rootwait testos:testos/buildmaster/x86_64-runtime
+assert_file_has_content sysroot/boot/loader/entries/ostree-testos-0.conf 'rootwait'
+assert_file_has_content sysroot/boot/loader/entries/ostree-testos-0.conf 'init='
+assert_not_file_has_content sysroot/boot/loader/entries/ostree-testos-0.conf 'initrd'
+
+echo "ok switching to bootdir with no initramfs"
+
+cd ${test_tmpdir}/osdata/boot
+rm -f initramfs* vmlinuz*
+echo "the kernel" > vmlinuz-3.6.0
+echo "initramfs to assist the kernel" > initramfs-3.6.0
+bootcsum=$(cat vmlinuz-3.6.0 initramfs-3.6.0 | sha256sum | cut -f 1 -d ' ')
+mv vmlinuz-3.6.0 vmlinuz-3.6.0-${bootcsum}
+mv initramfs-3.6.0 initramfs-3.6.0-${bootcsum}
+cd -
+${CMD_PREFIX} ostree --repo=${test_tmpdir}/testos-repo commit --tree=dir=osdata/ -b testos/buildmaster/x86_64-runtime
+${CMD_PREFIX} ostree pull testos:testos/buildmaster/x86_64-runtime
+${CMD_PREFIX} ostree admin deploy --os=testos --karg-none --karg=root=LABEL=rootfs testos:testos/buildmaster/x86_64-runtime
+assert_file_has_content sysroot/boot/loader/entries/ostree-testos-0.conf 'initrd'
+assert_file_has_content sysroot/boot/loader/entries/ostree-testos-0.conf 'root=LABEL=rootfs'
+assert_not_file_has_content sysroot/boot/loader/entries/ostree-testos-0.conf 'rootwait'
+assert_not_file_has_content sysroot/boot/loader/entries/ostree-testos-0.conf 'init='
+
+echo "ok switching from no initramfs to initramfs enabled sysroot"
+