diff --git a/gnomeos/yocto/classes/gnomeos-contents.bbclass b/gnomeos/yocto/classes/gnomeos-contents.bbclass
index b5106349..0f6a0df7 100644
--- a/gnomeos/yocto/classes/gnomeos-contents.bbclass
+++ b/gnomeos/yocto/classes/gnomeos-contents.bbclass
@@ -85,18 +85,12 @@ EOF
 
 	ln -sf /var/run/resolv.conf ${IMAGE_ROOTFS}/etc/resolv.conf
 
-	# Override base-passwd...it has lots of crap in it we don't
-	# want, and we do want dbus/gdm etc.
-	cat >${IMAGE_ROOTFS}/etc/passwd << EOF
-root::0:0:root:/:/bin/sh
-dbus:*:1:1:dbus:/:/bin/false
-gdm:*:2:2:gdm:/var/lib/gdm:/bin/false
-EOF
-	cat >${IMAGE_ROOTFS}/etc/group << EOF
-root:*:0:root
-dbus:*:1:
-gdm:*:2:
-EOF
+	# The passwd database is stored in /var.
+	rm -f ${IMAGE_ROOTFS}/etc/passwd ${IMAGE_ROOTFS}/etc/shadow ${IMAGE_ROOTFS}/etc/shadow-
+	ln -s /var/passwd ${IMAGE_ROOTFS}/etc/passwd
+	rm -f ${IMAGE_ROOTFS}/etc/group
+	ln -s /var/group ${IMAGE_ROOTFS}/etc/group
+
 	mkdir ${IMAGE_ROOTFS}/var/lib/gdm
 	chown 2:2 ${IMAGE_ROOTFS}/var/lib/gdm
 
diff --git a/gnomeos/yocto/gnomeos-run.sh b/gnomeos/yocto/gnomeos-run.sh
index 0977aab1..7e0ec4d2 100755
--- a/gnomeos/yocto/gnomeos-run.sh
+++ b/gnomeos/yocto/gnomeos-run.sh
@@ -74,6 +74,17 @@ if ! test -d ostree; then
     mkdir ostree/repo
     ostree --repo=ostree/repo init
 fi
+cat >ostree/var/passwd << EOF
+root::0:0:root:/:/bin/sh
+dbus:*:1:1:dbus:/:/bin/false
+gdm:*:2:2:gdm:/var/lib/gdm:/bin/false
+EOF
+cat >ostree/var/group << EOF
+root:*:0:root
+dbus:*:1:
+gdm:*:2:
+EOF
+
 cd ostree
 ostree --repo=${OSTREE_REPO} local-clone repo ${BRANCH_PREFIX}runtime ${BRANCH_PREFIX}devel
 for branch in runtime devel; do