diff --git a/release/Makefile.vm b/release/Makefile.vm
--- a/release/Makefile.vm
+++ b/release/Makefile.vm
@@ -82,6 +82,17 @@
 . endif
 .endfor
 
+.if !defined(NOPKGBASE) || empty(NOPKGBASE)
+.if ${BRANCH} == CURRENT || ${BRANCH} == STABLE
+SUBURL=	base_latest
+.else
+SUBURL=	base_release_${REVISION:C/[0-9]+\.//}
+.endif
+PKGBASE_CONF=	FreeBSD-base.conf
+FreeBSD-base.conf: scripts/FreeBSD-base.conf.in
+	sed "s|%%SUBURL%%|${SUBURL}|" < ${.ALLSRC} > ${.TARGET}
+.endif
+
 emulator-portinstall:
 .if !exists(/usr/local/bin/qemu-${TARGET_ARCH}-static)
 .if exists(${PORTSDIR}/emulators/qemu-user-static/Makefile)
@@ -131,7 +142,7 @@
 cw-${_CW:tl}-${_FS}-${_FMT}: cw-ec2-base-${_FS}-${_FMT}
 .endif
 
-cw-${_CW:tl}-${_FS}-${_FMT}: ${QEMUTGT} ${PKGBASE_REPO_DIR}
+cw-${_CW:tl}-${_FS}-${_FMT}: ${QEMUTGT} ${PKGBASE_REPO_DIR} ${PKGBASE_CONF}
 	mkdir -p ${.OBJDIR}/${.TARGET}
 	env TARGET=${TARGET} TARGET_ARCH=${TARGET_ARCH} SWAPSIZE=${SWAPSIZE} \
 		QEMUSTATIC=${QEMUSTATIC} \
@@ -187,7 +198,7 @@
 
 vm-base:	vm-image
 
-vm-image:	${QEMUTGT} ${PKGBASE_REPO_DIR}
+vm-image:	${QEMUTGT} ${PKGBASE_REPO_DIR} ${PKGBASE_CONF}
 .if defined(WITH_VMIMAGES) && !empty(WITH_VMIMAGES)
 . for FORMAT in ${VMFORMATS}
 .  for FS in ${VMFSLIST}
diff --git a/release/scripts/FreeBSD-base.conf.in b/release/scripts/FreeBSD-base.conf.in
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/release/scripts/FreeBSD-base.conf.in
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+FreeBSD-base: {
+  url: "pkg+https://pkg.FreeBSD.org/${ABI}/%%SUBURL%%",
+  mirror_type: "srv",
+  signature_type: "fingerprints",
+  fingerprints: "/usr/share/keys/pkg",
+  enabled: yes
+}
diff --git a/release/tools/vmimage.subr b/release/tools/vmimage.subr
--- a/release/tools/vmimage.subr
+++ b/release/tools/vmimage.subr
@@ -99,6 +99,9 @@
 		selected=$($pkg_cmd rquery -U -r FreeBSD-base %n | \
 			vm_filter_base_packages | vm_extra_filter_base_packages)
 		$pkg_cmd install -U -r FreeBSD-base $selected
+
+		mkdir -p ${DESTDIR}/etc/pkg/repos/
+		cp FreeBSD-base.conf ${DESTDIR}/etc/pkg/repos/FreeBSD-base.conf
 	else
 		cd ${WORLDDIR} && \
 			make DESTDIR=${DESTDIR} ${INSTALLOPTS} \