diff --git a/release/Makefile.vm b/release/Makefile.vm
--- a/release/Makefile.vm
+++ b/release/Makefile.vm
@@ -138,6 +138,9 @@
 		EC2BASEIMG=${.OBJDIR}/${EC2-BASE${_FS:tu}${_FMT:tu}IMAGE} \
 		${WITHOUT_QEMU:DWITHOUT_QEMU=true} \
 		${NO_ROOT:DNO_ROOT=true} \
+		PKG_CMD=${PKG_CMD:Upkg} \
+		PKG_REPOS_DIR=${PKG_REPOS_DIR:U${.OBJDIR}/${.TARGET}/etc/pkg} \
+		PKG_REPO_NAME=${PKG_REPO_NAME:UFreeBSD-ports} \
 		PKG_INSTALL_EPOCH=${PKG_INSTALL_EPOCH:U${GITEPOCH}} \
 		${.CURDIR}/scripts/mk-vmimage.sh \
 		-C ${.CURDIR}/tools/vmimage.subr -d ${.OBJDIR}/${.TARGET} \
@@ -191,6 +194,9 @@
 		QEMUSTATIC=${QEMUSTATIC} \
 		${WITHOUT_QEMU:DWITHOUT_QEMU=true} \
 		${NO_ROOT:DNO_ROOT=true} \
+		PKG_CMD=${PKG_CMD:Upkg} \
+		PKG_REPOS_DIR=${PKG_REPOS_DIR:U${.OBJDIR}/${.TARGET}-${FORMAT}-${FS}/etc/pkg} \
+		PKG_REPO_NAME=${PKG_REPO_NAME:UFreeBSD-ports} \
 		PKG_INSTALL_EPOCH=${PKG_INSTALL_EPOCH:U${GITEPOCH}} \
 		${.CURDIR}/scripts/mk-vmimage.sh \
 		-C ${.CURDIR}/tools/vmimage.subr \
diff --git a/release/tools/vmimage.subr b/release/tools/vmimage.subr
--- a/release/tools/vmimage.subr
+++ b/release/tools/vmimage.subr
@@ -163,19 +163,32 @@
 }
 
 vm_extra_install_packages() {
-	if [ -n "${WITHOUT_QEMU}" ]; then
-		return 0
-	fi
-
 	if [ -z "${VM_EXTRA_PACKAGES}" ]; then
 		return 0
 	fi
-	chroot ${DESTDIR} ${EMULATOR} env ASSUME_ALWAYS_YES=yes \
-		/usr/sbin/pkg bootstrap -y
-	for p in ${VM_EXTRA_PACKAGES}; do
+	if [ -n "${NO_ROOT}" ]; then
+		for pkg in ${VM_EXTRA_PACKAGES}; do
+			INSTALL_AS_USER=yes \
+			${PKG_CMD} \
+			    -o METALOG=${DESTDIR}/METALOG.pkg \
+			    -o REPOS_DIR=${PKG_REPOS_DIR} \
+			    -o PKG_DBDIR=${DESTDIR}/var/db/pkg \
+			    -r ${DESTDIR} \
+			    install -y -r ${PKG_REPO_NAME} $pkg
+		done
+		metalog_add_data ./var/db/pkg/local.sqlite
+	else
+		if [ -n "${WITHOUT_QEMU}" ]; then
+			return 0
+		fi
+
 		chroot ${DESTDIR} ${EMULATOR} env ASSUME_ALWAYS_YES=yes \
-			/usr/sbin/pkg install -y ${p}
-	done
+			/usr/sbin/pkg bootstrap -y
+		for p in ${VM_EXTRA_PACKAGES}; do
+			chroot ${DESTDIR} ${EMULATOR} env ASSUME_ALWAYS_YES=yes \
+				/usr/sbin/pkg install -y ${p}
+		done
+	fi
 
 	return 0
 }
@@ -219,6 +232,10 @@
 buildfs() {
 	local md tmppool
 
+	if [ -f ${DESTDIR}/METALOG.pkg ]; then
+		cat ${DESTDIR}/METALOG.pkg >> ${DESTDIR}/METALOG
+	fi
+
 	case "${VMFS}" in
 	ufs)
 		cd ${DESTDIR} && ${MAKEFS} ${MAKEFSARGS} -o label=rootfs -o version=2 -o softupdates=1 \