diff --git a/deploy/iso/minikube-iso/package/crio-bin/02-crio.conf b/deploy/iso/minikube-iso/package/crio-bin/02-crio.conf
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..cfeb6ed70b9b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/deploy/iso/minikube-iso/package/crio-bin/02-crio.conf
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+[crio.image]
+# pause_image = ""
+
+[crio.network]
+# cni_default_network = ""
+
+[crio.runtime]
+# cgroup_manager = ""
diff --git a/deploy/iso/minikube-iso/package/crio-bin/crio-bin.mk b/deploy/iso/minikube-iso/package/crio-bin/crio-bin.mk
index af437fca4563..3d87e44ae0ff 100644
--- a/deploy/iso/minikube-iso/package/crio-bin/crio-bin.mk
+++ b/deploy/iso/minikube-iso/package/crio-bin/crio-bin.mk
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ endef
 define CRIO_BIN_INSTALL_TARGET_CMDS
 	mkdir -p $(TARGET_DIR)/usr/share/containers/oci/hooks.d
 	mkdir -p $(TARGET_DIR)/etc/containers/oci/hooks.d
+	mkdir -p $(TARGET_DIR)/etc/crio/crio.conf.d
 
 	$(INSTALL) -Dm755 \
 		$(@D)/bin/crio \
@@ -55,6 +56,9 @@ define CRIO_BIN_INSTALL_TARGET_CMDS
 	$(INSTALL) -Dm644 \
 		$(CRIO_BIN_PKGDIR)/registries.conf \
 		$(TARGET_DIR)/etc/containers/registries.conf
+	$(INSTALL) -Dm644 \
+		$(CRIO_BIN_PKGDIR)/02-crio.conf \
+		$(TARGET_DIR)/etc/crio/crio.conf.d/02-crio.conf
 
 	mkdir -p $(TARGET_DIR)/etc/sysconfig
 	echo 'CRIO_OPTIONS="--log-level=debug"' > $(TARGET_DIR)/etc/sysconfig/crio
diff --git a/deploy/kicbase/02-crio.conf b/deploy/kicbase/02-crio.conf
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..cfeb6ed70b9b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/deploy/kicbase/02-crio.conf
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+[crio.image]
+# pause_image = ""
+
+[crio.network]
+# cni_default_network = ""
+
+[crio.runtime]
+# cgroup_manager = ""
diff --git a/deploy/kicbase/Dockerfile b/deploy/kicbase/Dockerfile
index b67d3d4635d1..4de80bc80082 100644
--- a/deploy/kicbase/Dockerfile
+++ b/deploy/kicbase/Dockerfile
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@ ARG CRIO_VERSION="1.22"
 # copy in static files (configs, scripts)
 COPY deploy/kicbase/10-network-security.conf /etc/sysctl.d/10-network-security.conf
 COPY deploy/kicbase/11-tcp-mtu-probing.conf /etc/sysctl.d/11-tcp-mtu-probing.conf
+COPY deploy/kicbase/02-crio.conf /etc/crio/crio.conf.d/02-crio.conf
 COPY deploy/kicbase/clean-install /usr/local/bin/clean-install
 COPY deploy/kicbase/entrypoint /usr/local/bin/entrypoint
 COPY --from=0 /src/cmd/auto-pause/auto-pause /bin/auto-pause
diff --git a/pkg/minikube/cruntime/crio.go b/pkg/minikube/cruntime/crio.go
index da7d6aa362d4..9cbcc5238fa2 100644
--- a/pkg/minikube/cruntime/crio.go
+++ b/pkg/minikube/cruntime/crio.go
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ import (
 
 const (
 	// CRIOConfFile is the path to the CRI-O configuration
-	crioConfigFile = "/etc/crio/crio.conf"
+	crioConfigFile = "/etc/crio/crio.conf.d/02-crio.conf"
 )
 
 // CRIO contains CRIO runtime state
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ type CRIO struct {
 func generateCRIOConfig(cr CommandRunner, imageRepository string, kv semver.Version) error {
 	pauseImage := images.Pause(kv, imageRepository)
 
-	c := exec.Command("/bin/bash", "-c", fmt.Sprintf("sudo sed -e 's|^pause_image = .*$|pause_image = \"%s\"|' -i %s", pauseImage, crioConfigFile))
+	c := exec.Command("/bin/bash", "-c", fmt.Sprintf("sudo sed -e 's|^.*pause_image = .*$|pause_image = \"%s\"|' -i %s", pauseImage, crioConfigFile))
 	if _, err := cr.RunCmd(c); err != nil {
 		return errors.Wrap(err, "generateCRIOConfig")
 	}
@@ -73,8 +73,7 @@ func generateCRIOConfig(cr CommandRunner, imageRepository string, kv semver.Vers
 }
 
 func (r *CRIO) forceSystemd() error {
-	// remove `cgroup_manager` since cri-o defaults to `systemd` if nothing set
-	c := exec.Command("/bin/bash", "-c", fmt.Sprintf("sudo sed -e 's|^cgroup_manager = .*$||' -i %s", crioConfigFile))
+	c := exec.Command("/bin/bash", "-c", fmt.Sprintf("sudo sed -e 's|^.*cgroup_manager = .*$|cgroup_manager = \"systemd\"|' -i %s", crioConfigFile))
 	if _, err := r.Runner.RunCmd(c); err != nil {
 		return errors.Wrap(err, "force systemd")
 	}