diff --git a/pkg/initrd/initrd.skel b/pkg/initrd/initrd.skel
index 8b1a298..fed5790 100644
--- a/pkg/initrd/initrd.skel
+++ b/pkg/initrd/initrd.skel
@@ -46,72 +46,6 @@ while [ ! -e ${root} ]; do
 done
 
 # file system setup
-overlay_mount() {
-	local lower=/newroot/${1}
-	local upper=/newroot/${2}
-	local work=/newroot/${2}_work
-	local target=/newroot/${3}
-
-	mount -t overlay overlay -olowerdir=${lower},upperdir=${upper},workdir=${work} ${target}
-}
-
-bind_mount() {
-	mount --bind /newroot/${1} /newroot/${2}
-}
-
-setup_vfs() {
-	local root=${1}
-
-	mount -t proc proc $root/proc
-	mount -t sysfs sysfs $root/sys
-	mount -t devtmpfs none $root/dev
-
-	# setup /dev
-	[ -e $root/dev/fd ] || ln -snf /proc/self/fd $root/dev/fd
-	[ -e $root/dev/stdin ] || ln -snf /proc/self/fd/0 $root/dev/stdin
-	[ -e $root/dev/stdout ] || ln -snf /proc/self/fd/1 $root/dev/stdout
-	[ -e $root/dev/stderr ] || ln -snf /proc/self/fd/2 $root/dev/stderr
-	[ -e $root/proc/kcore ] && ln -snf /proc/kcore $root/dev/core
-
-	for x in \
-		"mqueue dev/mqueue 1777 ,nodev mqueue" \
-		"devpts dev/pts 0755 ,gid=5,mode=0620 devpts" \
-		"tmpfs dev/shm 1777 ,nodev,mode=1777 shm" \
-	; do
-		set -- $x
-		grep -Eq "[[:space:]]+$1$" /proc/filesystems || continue
-
-		if [ ! -d "$root/$2" ]; then
-			mkdir -m $3 -p "$root/$2" >/dev/null 2>&1 || \
-				echo "Could not create $root/$2!"
-		fi
-
-		if [ -d "$root/$2" ]; then
-			mount -t $1 -o noexec,nosuid$4 $5 "$root/$2"
-		fi
-	done
-
-	# set up additional mounts in /proc and /sys
-	for x in \
-		"sys/kernel/security securityfs nodev,noexec,nosuid" \
-		"sys/kernel/config configfs nodev,noexec,nosuid" \
-		"sys/fs/fuse/connections fusectl nodev,noexec,nosuid" \
-		"sys/firmware/efi/efivars efivarfs ro" \
-		"proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc binfmt_misc nodev,noexec,nosuid" \
-	; do
-		set -- $x
-
-		if [ -d "$root/$1" ]; then
-			if grep -qs $2 "$root/proc/filesystems"; then
-				echo "Mounting $2 filesystem"
-				mount -n -t $2 -o $3 $2 "$root/$1"
-			fi
-		fi
-	done
-
-	unset -v x
-}
-
 mount ${root} /images
 
 if [ ! -e /images/${root_sfs} ]; then
@@ -121,21 +55,6 @@ if [ ! -e /images/${root_sfs} ]; then
 fi
 
 mount -t squashfs /images/${root_sfs} /newroot
-setup_vfs "/newroot"
-mount -t tmpfs none /newroot/tmp
-mount -t tmpfs none /newroot/var
-mount -t tmpfs none /newroot/run
-
-chmod 755 /newroot/var
-mkdir -p /newroot/run/log/journal
-mkdir -p /newroot/var/log/fsck
-mkdir -p /newroot/var/log/nginx
-mkdir -p /newroot/var/log/mpd
-mkdir -p /newroot/var/spool/
-mkdir -p /newroot/var/lib/
-mkdir -p /newroot/var/tmp
-ln -s /run /newroot/var/run
-ln -s /run/lock /newroot/var/lock
 
 if [ ! -z "$overlay_dev" ]; then
 	while [ ! -e ${overlay_dev} ]; do
@@ -144,14 +63,9 @@ if [ ! -z "$overlay_dev" ]; then
 	done
 
 	mount ${overlay_dev} /newroot/cfg/overlay
-
-	overlay_mount "cfg/preserve/etc" "cfg/overlay/etc" "etc"
-	overlay_mount "cfg/preserve/var_lib" "cfg/overlay/var_lib" "var/lib"
-	overlay_mount "cfg/preserve/root" "cfg/overlay/root" "root"
+	chroot /newroot mount -n -t overlay overlay -olowerdir=/cfg/preserve/etc,upperdir=/cfg/overlay/etc,workdir=/cfg/overlay/etc_work /etc
 else
-	bind_mount "cfg/preserve/etc" "etc"
-	bind_mount "cfg/preserve/var_lib" "var/lib"
-	bind_mount "cfg/preserve/root" "root"
+	chroot /newroot mount -n --bind /cfg/preserve/etc /etc
 fi
 
 # cleanup mounts