diff --git a/libexec/rc/rc.initdiskless b/libexec/rc/rc.initdiskless
--- a/libexec/rc/rc.initdiskless
+++ b/libexec/rc/rc.initdiskless
@@ -376,7 +376,16 @@
 	if [ -f $j ]; then
 	    create_md $subdir
 	    echo "Loading /$subdir from cpio archive $j"
-	    (cd / ; /rescue/tar -xpf $j)
+            if [ -x /rescue/tar ]; then
+                (cd / ; /rescue/tar -xpf $j)
+            else
+                if [ -x /usr/bin/tar ]; then
+                    (cd / ; /usr/bin/tar -xpf $j)
+                else
+                    echo "Can't find /rescue/tar or /usr/bin/tar, bailing out"
+                    exit 1
+                fi
+            fi
 	fi
     done
     for j in /conf/$i/*/extract ; do