diff --git a/headers/private/kernel/boot/vfs.h b/headers/private/kernel/boot/vfs.h
index 6cc97f928e..cf6411945a 100644
--- a/headers/private/kernel/boot/vfs.h
+++ b/headers/private/kernel/boot/vfs.h
@@ -122,6 +122,9 @@ public:
 			bool				IsPackaged() const
 									{ return fPackaged; }
 
+private:
+			int					_OpenSystemPackage();
+
 private:
 			Directory*			fRootDirectory;
 				// root directory of the volume
diff --git a/src/system/boot/loader/vfs.cpp b/src/system/boot/loader/vfs.cpp
index ae95a85439..21d02c8183 100644
--- a/src/system/boot/loader/vfs.cpp
+++ b/src/system/boot/loader/vfs.cpp
@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@
 
 #include <StorageDefs.h>
 
+#include <AutoDeleter.h>
+
 #include <boot/platform.h>
 #include <boot/partitions.h>
 #include <boot/stdio.h>
@@ -435,8 +437,7 @@ BootVolume::SetTo(Directory* rootDirectory)
 	fSystemDirectory = static_cast<Directory*>(systemNode);
 
 	// try opening the system package
-	int packageFD = open_from(fSystemDirectory, "packages/haiku.hpkg",
-		O_RDONLY);
+	int packageFD = _OpenSystemPackage();
 	fPackaged = packageFD >= 0;
 	if (!fPackaged)
 		return B_OK;
@@ -474,6 +475,46 @@ BootVolume::Unset()
 }
 
 
+int
+BootVolume::_OpenSystemPackage()
+{
+	// open the packages directory
+	Node* packagesNode = fSystemDirectory->Lookup("packages", false);
+	if (packagesNode == NULL)
+		return -1;
+	MethodDeleter<Node, status_t> packagesNodeReleaser(packagesNode,
+		&Node::Release);
+
+	if (!S_ISDIR(packagesNode->Type()))
+		return -1;
+	Directory* packageDirectory = (Directory*)packagesNode;
+
+	// search for the system package
+	int fd = -1;
+	void* cookie;
+	if (packageDirectory->Open(&cookie, O_RDONLY) == B_OK) {
+		char name[B_FILE_NAME_LENGTH];
+		while (packageDirectory->GetNextEntry(cookie, name, sizeof(name))
+				== B_OK) {
+			// The name must end with ".hpkg".
+			size_t nameLength = strlen(name);
+			if (nameLength < 6 || strcmp(name + nameLength - 5, ".hpkg") != 0)
+				continue;
+
+			// The name must either be "haiku.hpkg" or start with "haiku-".
+			if (strcmp(name, "haiku.hpkg") == 0
+				|| strncmp(name, "haiku-", 6) == 0) {
+				fd = open_from(packageDirectory, name, O_RDONLY);
+				break;
+			}
+		}
+		packageDirectory->Close(cookie);
+	}
+
+	return fd;
+}
+
+
 //	#pragma mark -