diff --git a/live-build/auto/config b/live-build/auto/config
index 764c7707..37cc6f71 100755
--- a/live-build/auto/config
+++ b/live-build/auto/config
@@ -436,10 +436,16 @@ esac
 
 case $PROJECT in
 	ubuntu-server|ubuntu-core|ubuntu-touch)
-		OPTS="${OPTS:+$OPTS }--linux-packages=none --initramfs=none"
-		KERNEL_FLAVOURS=none
-		BINARY_REMOVE_LINUX=false
-		;;
+	        case $SUBPROJECT in
+			system-image)
+                                # keep the kernel for the system-image build
+				;;
+			*)
+		                OPTS="${OPTS:+$OPTS }--linux-packages=none --initramfs=none"
+		                KERNEL_FLAVOURS=none
+		                BINARY_REMOVE_LINUX=false
+				;;
+		esac
 esac
 
 add_chroot_hook update-apt-file-cache