cdiff --git a/gnu/build/image.scm b/gnu/build/image.scm
index 81caa424f8..321fba40e3 100644
--- a/gnu/build/image.scm
+++ b/gnu/build/image.scm
@@ -48,12 +48,13 @@ (define (sexp->partition sexp)
   "Take SEXP, a tuple as returned by 'partition->gexp', and turn it into a
 <partition> record."
   (match sexp
-    ((size file-system file-system-options label uuid)
+    ((size file-system file-system-options label uuid flags)
      (partition (size size)
                 (file-system file-system)
                 (file-system-options file-system-options)
                 (label label)
-                (uuid uuid)))))
+                (uuid uuid)
+                (flags flags)))))
 
 (define (size-in-kib size)
   "Convert SIZE expressed in bytes, to kilobytes and return it as a string."
@@ -78,6 +79,7 @@ (define* (make-ext-image partition target root
         (fs-options (partition-file-system-options partition))
         (label (partition-label partition))
         (uuid (partition-uuid partition))
+        (flags (partition-flags partition))
         (journal-options "lazy_itable_init=1,lazy_journal_init=1"))
     (apply invoke
            `("fakeroot" "mke2fs" "-t" ,fs "-d" ,root
diff --git a/gnu/system/image.scm b/gnu/system/image.scm
index a6267feab2..d903cb4579 100644
--- a/gnu/system/image.scm
+++ b/gnu/system/image.scm
@@ -218,7 +218,8 @@ (define (partition->gexp partition)
       #$(partition-file-system-options partition)
       #$(partition-label partition)
       #$(and=> (partition-uuid partition)
-               uuid-bytevector)))
+               uuid-bytevector)
+      #$(partition-flags partition)))
 
 (define gcrypt-sqlite3&co
   ;; Guile-Gcrypt, Guile-SQLite3, and their propagated inputs.
@@ -392,17 +393,21 @@ (define (partition->config image partition)
                     (partition-type-values image partition)))
         (let ((label (partition-label partition))
               (image (partition-image partition))
-              (offset (partition-offset partition)))
+              (offset (partition-offset partition))
+              (bootable (if (member 'boot (partition-flags partition))
+                          "true" "false" )))
           #~(format #f "~/partition ~a {
   ~/~/~a = ~a
   ~/~/image = \"~a\"
   ~/~/offset = \"~a\"
+  ~/~/bootable = \"~a\"
   ~/}"
                     #$label
                     #$partition-type-attribute
                     #$partition-type-value
                     #$image
-                    #$offset))))
+                    #$offset
+                    #$bootable))))
 
     (define (genimage-type-options image-type image)
       (cond