diff --git a/src/bin/installer.rs b/src/bin/installer.rs
index bb15476a77..8da1b04b50 100644
--- a/src/bin/installer.rs
+++ b/src/bin/installer.rs
@@ -14,10 +14,11 @@ fn main() {
     let stderr = io::stderr();
     let mut stderr = stderr.lock();
 
-    let mut parser = ArgParser::new(3)
+    let mut parser = ArgParser::new(4)
         .add_opt("b", "cookbook")
         .add_opt("c", "config")
-        .add_flag(&["l", "list-packages"]);
+        .add_flag(&["l", "list-packages"])
+        .add_flag(&["live"]);
     parser.parse(env::args());
 
     let config = if let Some(path) = parser.get_opt("config") {
@@ -68,7 +69,7 @@ fn main() {
         }
     } else {
         if let Some(path) = parser.args.get(0) {
-            if let Err(err) = redox_installer::install(config, path, cookbook) {
+            if let Err(err) = redox_installer::install(config, path, cookbook, parser.found("live")) {
                 writeln!(stderr, "installer: failed to install: {}", err).unwrap();
                 process::exit(1);
             }
diff --git a/src/lib.rs b/src/lib.rs
index 29e8ad608d..29cb8064f4 100644
--- a/src/lib.rs
+++ b/src/lib.rs
@@ -525,7 +525,7 @@ pub fn with_whole_disk<P, F, T>(disk_path: P, bootloader_bios: &[u8], bootloader
     )
 }
 
-pub fn install<P, S>(config: Config, output: P, cookbook: Option<S>)
+pub fn install<P, S>(config: Config, output: P, cookbook: Option<S>, live: bool)
     -> Result<()> where
         P: AsRef<Path>,
         S: AsRef<str>,
@@ -535,7 +535,7 @@ pub fn install<P, S>(config: Config, output: P, cookbook: Option<S>)
     if output.as_ref().is_dir() {
         install_dir(config, output, cookbook)
     } else {
-        let (bootloader_bios, bootloader_efi) = fetch_bootloaders(cookbook.as_ref(), false)?;
+        let (bootloader_bios, bootloader_efi) = fetch_bootloaders(cookbook.as_ref(), live)?;
         with_whole_disk(output, &bootloader_bios, &bootloader_efi, None,
             move |mount_path| {
                 install_dir(config, mount_path, cookbook)