diff --git a/build-vm b/build-vm
index ca9af9f24..4c083251a 100644
--- a/build-vm
+++ b/build-vm
@@ -1083,9 +1083,6 @@ vm_first_stage() {
 	    if test -f "$BUILD_ROOT/.build.initrd.$vm_type" -a ! -L "$BUILD_ROOT/.build.initrd.$vm_type" ; then
 	        cp "$BUILD_ROOT/.build.initrd.$vm_type" "$KERNEL_TEMP_DIR/initrd"
 	    fi
-	    if test -f "$BUILD_ROOT/.build.cmdline.$vm_type" -a ! -L "$BUILD_ROOT/.build.cmdline.$vm_type" ; then
-	        vm_cmdline="$(cat $BUILD_ROOT/.build.cmdline.$vm_type)"
-	    fi
 	fi
 	check_exit
 	if test -n "$VM_USE_MKFS_COPYIN" ; then
diff --git a/build-vm-kvm b/build-vm-kvm
index d64cf4d34..b1f55d37c 100644
--- a/build-vm-kvm
+++ b/build-vm-kvm
@@ -417,6 +417,10 @@ vm_fixup_kvm() {
 	fi
     fi
 
+    if test -z "$VM_KERNEL" -a -z "$VM_CMDLINE" -a -f "$BUILD_ROOT/.build.cmdline.$vm_type" -a ! -L "$BUILD_ROOT/.build.cmdline.$vm_type" ; then
+	vm_cmdline="$(cat $BUILD_ROOT/.build.cmdline.$vm_type)"
+    fi
+
     # move IO into separate I/O thread for some architectures
     if test "${kvm_device%%-*}" = "virtio" ; then
         if $kvm_bin -version | grep -F -q 7.1.0; then