diff --git a/src/kernel-install/kernel-install.in b/src/kernel-install/kernel-install.in
index 562a051e7f..5536d1275e 100755
--- a/src/kernel-install/kernel-install.in
+++ b/src/kernel-install/kernel-install.in
@@ -140,6 +140,7 @@ if [ -z "$MACHINE_ID" ] && [ -r /etc/machine-info ] && . /etc/machine-info && MA
         echo "machine-id $MACHINE_ID acquired from /etc/machine-info"
 fi
 if [ -z "$MACHINE_ID" ] && [ -s /etc/machine-id ] && read -r MACHINE_ID </etc/machine-id; then
+    [ "$MACHINE_ID" = "uninitialized" ] && unset MACHINE_ID
     [ -n "$MACHINE_ID" ] && [ "$KERNEL_INSTALL_VERBOSE" -gt 0 ] && \
         echo "machine-id $MACHINE_ID acquired from /etc/machine-id"
 fi