diff --git a/release/Makefile b/release/Makefile
index fc91b31df579..a2667ed853a6 100644
--- a/release/Makefile
+++ b/release/Makefile
@@ -87,7 +87,9 @@ PKG_ABI=	$$(${PKG_CMD} -o ABI_FILE=${PKG_ABI_FILE} config ABI)
 PKG_ENV+=	INSTALL_AS_USER=yes
 PKG_ENV+=	ASSUME_ALWAYS_YES=yes
 PKG_ARGS+=	-o METALOG=METALOG
+.if !defined(NOPKGBASE) || empty(NOPKGBASE)
 PKG_ARGS+=	-o ABI=${PKG_ABI}
+.endif
 PKG_ARGS+=	-r ${.TARGET}
 PKG_REPO_ARGS=	-o REPOS_DIR=${.CURDIR}/pkg_repos
 PKGBASE_REPO_ARGS=-o REPOS_DIR=${.OBJDIR}/pkgbase-repo-dir
diff --git a/release/tools/vmimage.subr b/release/tools/vmimage.subr
index 0ca9ba267ce0..c9f8fee06cab 100644
--- a/release/tools/vmimage.subr
+++ b/release/tools/vmimage.subr
@@ -207,10 +207,13 @@ vm_extra_install_packages() {
 		return 0
 	fi
 	if [ -n "${NO_ROOT}" ]; then
+		if [ -z "${NOPKGBASE}" ]; then
+			PKG_ABIOPT="-o ABI=${PKG_ABI}"
+		fi
 		for pkg in ${VM_EXTRA_PACKAGES}; do
 			INSTALL_AS_USER=yes \
 			${PKG_CMD} \
-			    -o ABI=${PKG_ABI} \
+			    ${PKG_ABIOPT} \
 			    -o METALOG=${DESTDIR}/METALOG.pkg \
 			    -o REPOS_DIR=${PKG_REPOS_DIR} \
 			    -o PKG_DBDIR=${DESTDIR}/var/db/pkg \
@@ -219,7 +222,7 @@ vm_extra_install_packages() {
 		done
 		INSTALL_AS_USER=yes \
 		${PKG_CMD} \
-		    -o ABI=${PKG_ABI} \
+		    ${PKG_ABIOPT} \
 		    -o REPOS_DIR=${PKG_REPOS_DIR} \
 		    -o PKG_DBDIR=${DESTDIR}/var/db/pkg \
 		    -r ${DESTDIR} \