diff --git a/live-build/ubuntu-core/hooks/03-boot_with_systemd.chroot b/live-build/ubuntu-core/hooks/03-boot_with_systemd.chroot
index 7ae143a4..563af73e 100755
--- a/live-build/ubuntu-core/hooks/03-boot_with_systemd.chroot
+++ b/live-build/ubuntu-core/hooks/03-boot_with_systemd.chroot
@@ -4,6 +4,6 @@
 # to see what is happening.
 systemd=/lib/systemd/systemd
 sed -i \
-    -e "s,^\([ 	]*GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX\)=\"\"$,\1=\"init=$systemd\",g" \
-    -e "s,^\([ 	]*GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT\)=\"quiet splash\",\1=\"\",g" \
+    -e "s,^\\([ 	]*GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX\\)=\"\"$,\\1=\"init=$systemd\",g" \
+    -e 's,^\([ 	]*GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT\)="quiet splash",\1="",g' \
     /etc/default/grub