diff --git a/debian/changelog b/debian/changelog
index 820ed91b..d9e57b77 100644
--- a/debian/changelog
+++ b/debian/changelog
@@ -3,6 +3,10 @@ livecd-rootfs (2.459) UNRELEASED; urgency=medium
   * Remove spurious call to 'sync'; we don't need to flush all disk caches
     on the system to cleanly unmount a partition.
 
+  [ Michael Hudson-Doyle ]
+  * only show alert (i.e. panic) kernel messages on the console when
+    subiquity is running
+
  -- Steve Langasek <steve.langasek@ubuntu.com>  Tue, 19 Sep 2017 13:15:33 -0700
 
 livecd-rootfs (2.458) artful; urgency=medium
diff --git a/live-build/ubuntu-server/includes.binary/overlay/lib/systemd/system/subiquity.service b/live-build/ubuntu-server/includes.binary/overlay/lib/systemd/system/subiquity.service
index 2b40f7c0..e241d307 100644
--- a/live-build/ubuntu-server/includes.binary/overlay/lib/systemd/system/subiquity.service
+++ b/live-build/ubuntu-server/includes.binary/overlay/lib/systemd/system/subiquity.service
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ ConditionPathExists=!/run/subiquity/complete
 [Service]
 Environment=PYTHONPATH=/usr/share/subiquity
 ExecStartPre=/bin/systemctl stop getty@tty1
+ExecStartPre=/bin/dmesg -n 1
 ExecStart=/sbin/agetty -n --noclear -l /snap/bin/subiquity tty1 $TERM
 ExecStopPost=/bin/systemctl start getty@tty1
 Type=idle