diff --git a/package/base/linux/linux.conf b/package/base/linux/linux.conf
index f1c3abd3e..38712621f 100644
--- a/package/base/linux/linux.conf
+++ b/package/base/linux/linux.conf
@@ -483,12 +483,10 @@ main_lx() {
 	ln -sf ../../../usr/src/linux-${lx_kernelrelease} \
 	       $root/lib/modules/${lx_kernelrelease}/source
 
+	# just create a symlink to the default initrd image here; the file
+	# pointed to will be created by the rockinitrd postinstall script
 	if [ "$default" ] ; then
-		if [ -z "$root" ]; then
-			mkinitrd empty ${lx_kernelrelease}
-			rm -f /boot/initrd.img
-			ln -s initrd-${lx_kernelrelease}.img /boot/initrd.img
-		fi
+		ln -s initrd-${lx_kernelrelease}.img /boot/initrd.img
 	fi
 }