diff --git a/src/libostree/ostree-repo-private.h b/src/libostree/ostree-repo-private.h
index 7efbf91f..015a9a8b 100644
--- a/src/libostree/ostree-repo-private.h
+++ b/src/libostree/ostree-repo-private.h
@@ -106,6 +106,7 @@ struct OstreeRepo {
 
   gboolean inited;
   gboolean writable;
+  gboolean is_system; /* Was this repo created via ostree_sysroot_get_repo() ? */
   GError *writable_error;
   gboolean in_transaction;
   gboolean disable_fsync;
diff --git a/src/libostree/ostree-repo.c b/src/libostree/ostree-repo.c
index 7ee2c9aa..cbbaec9b 100644
--- a/src/libostree/ostree-repo.c
+++ b/src/libostree/ostree-repo.c
@@ -710,6 +710,12 @@ ostree_repo_is_system (OstreeRepo   *repo)
 
   g_return_val_if_fail (OSTREE_IS_REPO (repo), FALSE);
 
+  /* If we were created via ostree_sysroot_get_repo(), we know the answer is yes
+   * without having to compare file paths.
+   */
+  if (repo->is_system)
+    return TRUE;
+
   default_repo_path = get_default_repo_path (repo->sysroot_dir);
 
   return g_file_equal (repo->repodir, default_repo_path);
diff --git a/src/libostree/ostree-sysroot.c b/src/libostree/ostree-sysroot.c
index e47214c5..ac24b0af 100644
--- a/src/libostree/ostree-sysroot.c
+++ b/src/libostree/ostree-sysroot.c
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@
 #include <sys/wait.h>
 
 #include "ostree-core-private.h"
+#include "ostree-repo-private.h"
 #include "ostree-sepolicy-private.h"
 #include "ostree-sysroot-private.h"
 #include "ostree-deployment-private.h"
@@ -133,6 +134,7 @@ ostree_sysroot_constructed (GObject *object)
 
   repo_path = g_file_resolve_relative_path (self->path, "ostree/repo");
   self->repo = ostree_repo_new_for_sysroot_path (repo_path, self->path);
+  self->repo->is_system = TRUE;
 
   G_OBJECT_CLASS (ostree_sysroot_parent_class)->constructed (object);
 }