diff --git a/meta/classes/boot-directdisk.bbclass b/meta/classes/boot-directdisk.bbclass
index 3169043..df57de4 100644
--- a/meta/classes/boot-directdisk.bbclass
+++ b/meta/classes/boot-directdisk.bbclass
@@ -58,6 +58,21 @@ build_boot_dd() {
        # done in blocks, thus the mod by 16 instead of 32.
        BLOCKS=$(expr $BLOCKS + $(expr 16 - $(expr $BLOCKS % 16)))

+       KERNEL_VERSION=$(grep '^VERSION\s*=' ${STAGING_KERNEL_DIR}/Makefile | grep -o '[0-9]*$')
+       KERNEL_PATCHLEVEL=$(grep '^PATCHLEVEL\s*=' ${STAGING_KERNEL_DIR}/Makefile | grep -o '[0-9]*$')
+
+       rm -rf $IMAGE
+       dd if=/dev/zero of=$IMAGE bs=512 seek=1 count=0
+       parted $IMAGE mklabel msdos
+
+       if [[ $KERNEL_VERSION -eq 3 && $KERNEL_PATCHLEVEL -ge 8 ]] || [ $KERNEL_VERSION -gt 3 ]; then
+               # the disk signature generated by parted isn't really random, so regenerate it
+               dd if=/dev/urandom of=$IMAGE bs=1 seek=440 count=4 conv=notrunc
+
+               DISK_SIGNATURE=$(hexdump -s 440 -n 4 -e '4 1 "%02x\n" "\n"' $IMAGE | tac | paste -sd '')
+               sed -i "s|\broot=[^ ]*|root=PARTUUID=$DISK_SIGNATURE-02|" $HDDDIR/syslinux.cfg
+       fi
+
        mkdosfs -n ${BOOTDD_VOLUME_ID} -S 512 -C $HDDIMG $BLOCKS
        mcopy -i $HDDIMG -s $HDDDIR/* ::/

@@ -71,10 +86,8 @@ build_boot_dd() {
        END3=`expr \( $ROOTFSBLOCKS \* 1024 \) + $END1`

        echo $ROOTFSBLOCKS $TOTALSIZE $END1 $END2 $END3
-       rm -rf $IMAGE
        dd if=/dev/zero of=$IMAGE bs=1024 seek=$TOTALSIZE count=1

-       parted $IMAGE mklabel msdos
        parted $IMAGE mkpart primary fat16 0 ${END1}B
        parted $IMAGE unit B mkpart primary ext2 ${END2}B ${END3}B
        parted $IMAGE set 1 boot on