diff --git a/src/switchroot/ostree-mount-util.h b/src/switchroot/ostree-mount-util.h
index 0b40bb40..fb2d02b4 100644
--- a/src/switchroot/ostree-mount-util.h
+++ b/src/switchroot/ostree-mount-util.h
@@ -30,11 +30,13 @@
 #include <unistd.h>
 #include <fcntl.h>
 #include <string.h>
+#include <stdbool.h>
 
 #define INITRAMFS_MOUNT_VAR "/run/ostree/initramfs-mount-var"
+#define _OSTREE_SYSROOT_READONLY_STAMP "/run/ostree-sysroot-ro.stamp"
 
 static inline int
-path_is_on_readonly_fs (char *path)
+path_is_on_readonly_fs (const char *path)
 {
   struct statvfs stvfsbuf;
 
diff --git a/src/switchroot/ostree-prepare-root.c b/src/switchroot/ostree-prepare-root.c
index c25d3fe9..8a68e1f4 100644
--- a/src/switchroot/ostree-prepare-root.c
+++ b/src/switchroot/ostree-prepare-root.c
@@ -60,6 +60,7 @@
 #include <sys/syscall.h>
 #include <fcntl.h>
 #include <stdio.h>
+#include <assert.h>
 #include <stdarg.h>
 #include <stdbool.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
@@ -83,6 +84,47 @@
 /* Initialized early in main */
 static bool running_as_pid1;
 
+static inline bool
+sysroot_is_configured_ro (const char *sysroot)
+{
+  char * config_path = NULL;
+  assert (asprintf (&config_path, "%s/ostree/repo/config", sysroot) != -1);
+  FILE *f = fopen(config_path, "r");
+  if (!f)
+    {
+      fprintf (stderr, "Missing expected repo config: %s\n", config_path);
+      free (config_path);
+      return false;
+    }
+  free (config_path);
+
+  bool ret = false;
+  char *line = NULL;
+  size_t len = 0;
+  ssize_t nread;
+  /* Note getline() will reuse the previous buffer */
+  bool in_sysroot = false;
+  while ((nread = getline (&line, &len, f)) != -1)
+    {
+      /* This is an awful hack to avoid depending on GLib in the
+       * initramfs right now.
+       */
+      if (strstr (line, "[sysroot]") == line)
+        in_sysroot = true;
+      else if (*line == '[')
+        in_sysroot = false;
+      else if (in_sysroot && strstr (line, "readonly=true") == line)
+        {
+          ret = true;
+          break;
+        }
+    }
+
+  fclose (f);
+  free (line);
+  return ret;
+}
+
 static char*
 resolve_deploy_path (const char * root_mountpoint)
 {
@@ -192,6 +234,33 @@ main(int argc, char *argv[])
   if (chdir (deploy_path) < 0)
     err (EXIT_FAILURE, "failed to chdir to deploy_path");
 
+  /* Query the repository configuration - this is an operating system builder
+   * choice.  More info: https://github.com/ostreedev/ostree/pull/1767
+   */
+  const bool sysroot_readonly = sysroot_is_configured_ro (root_arg);
+  const bool sysroot_currently_writable = !path_is_on_readonly_fs (root_arg);
+
+#ifdef USE_LIBSYSTEMD
+      sd_journal_send ("MESSAGE=sysroot configured read-only: %d, currently writable: %d", 
+                      (int)sysroot_readonly, (int)sysroot_currently_writable, NULL);
+#endif
+  if (sysroot_readonly)
+    {
+      if (!sysroot_currently_writable)
+        errx (EXIT_FAILURE, "sysroot=readonly currently requires writable / in initramfs");
+      /* Now, /etc is not normally a bind mount, but if we have a readonly
+       * sysroot, we still need a writable /etc.  And to avoid race conditions
+       * we ensure it's writable in the initramfs, before we switchroot at all.
+       */
+      if (mount ("/etc", "/etc", NULL, MS_BIND, NULL) < 0)
+        err (EXIT_FAILURE, "failed to make /etc a bind mount");
+      /* Pass on the fact that we discovered a readonly sysroot to ostree-remount.service */
+      int fd = open (_OSTREE_SYSROOT_READONLY_STAMP, O_WRONLY | O_CREAT | O_CLOEXEC, 0644);
+      if (fd < 0)
+        err (EXIT_FAILURE, "failed to create %s", _OSTREE_SYSROOT_READONLY_STAMP);
+      (void) close (fd);
+    }
+
   /* Default to true, but in the systemd case, default to false because it's handled by
    * ostree-system-generator. */
   bool mount_var = true;
diff --git a/src/switchroot/ostree-remount.c b/src/switchroot/ostree-remount.c
index 00e21296..5c313c87 100644
--- a/src/switchroot/ostree-remount.c
+++ b/src/switchroot/ostree-remount.c
@@ -81,24 +81,6 @@ do_remount (const char *target,
   printf ("Remounted %s: %s\n", writable ? "rw" : "ro", target);
 }
 
-static bool
-sysroot_is_configured_ro (void)
-{
-  struct stat stbuf;
-  static const char config_path[] = "/ostree/repo/config";
-  if (stat (config_path, &stbuf) != 0)
-    return false;
-
-  g_autoptr(GKeyFile) keyfile = g_key_file_new ();
-  if (!g_key_file_load_from_file (keyfile, config_path, 0, NULL))
-    return false;
-
-  if (g_key_file_get_boolean (keyfile, "sysroot", "readonly", NULL))
-    puts ("Ignoring sysroot.readonly config; see https://github.com/coreos/fedora-coreos-tracker/issues/488.");
-
-  return false;
-}
-
 int
 main(int argc, char *argv[])
 {
@@ -124,25 +106,10 @@ main(int argc, char *argv[])
       exit (EXIT_SUCCESS);
     }
 
-  /* Query the repository configuration - this is an operating system builder
-   * choice.
-   * */
-  const bool sysroot_readonly = sysroot_is_configured_ro ();
-
-  /* Mount the sysroot read-only if we're configured to do so.
-   * Note we only get here if / is already writable.
-   */
-  do_remount ("/sysroot", !sysroot_readonly);
-
-  if (sysroot_readonly)
+  /* Handle remounting /sysroot read-only now */
+  if (unlink (_OSTREE_SYSROOT_READONLY_STAMP) == 0)
     {
-      /* Now, /etc is not normally a bind mount, but remounting the
-       * sysroot above made it read-only since it's on the same filesystem.
-       * Make it a self-bind mount, so we can then mount it read-write.
-       */
-      if (mount ("/etc", "/etc", NULL, MS_BIND, NULL) < 0)
-        err (EXIT_FAILURE, "failed to make /etc a bind mount");
-      do_remount ("/etc", true);
+      do_remount ("/sysroot", false);
     }
 
   /* If /var was created as as an OSTree default bind mount (instead of being a separate filesystem)