diff --git a/pkg/distro/generic/images.go b/pkg/distro/generic/images.go
index b747adcf04..7b1a0ed889 100644
--- a/pkg/distro/generic/images.go
+++ b/pkg/distro/generic/images.go
@@ -929,6 +929,12 @@ func imageInstallerImage(t *imageType,
 	img.Kickstart.Keyboard = img.OSCustomizations.Keyboard
 	img.Kickstart.Timezone = &img.OSCustomizations.Timezone
 
+	// customizations.kernel.append (and image-type defaults) belong on the
+	// *installed* system. For image-installer the OS payload is a tar with no
+	// partition table, so org.osbuild.kernel-cmdline is never emitted for it.
+	// Pass the options through kickstart `bootloader --append` instead.
+	img.Kickstart.KernelOptionsAppend = append(img.Kickstart.KernelOptionsAppend, kernelOptions(t, customizations)...)
+
 	img.ExtraBasePackages = packageSets[installerPkgsKey]
 
 	img.InstallerCustomizations, err = installerCustomizations(t, bp.Customizations, options)
@@ -936,6 +942,12 @@ func imageInstallerImage(t *imageType,
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
+	// installerCustomizations() currently copies OS kernel options into
+	// InstallerCustomizations.KernelOptionsAppend, which anaconda_tar_installer
+	// then places on the ISO GRUB cmdline. Clear those so blueprint/OS kargs
+	// are not applied to the installer media itself.
+	img.InstallerCustomizations.KernelOptionsAppend = nil
+
 	img.ISOCustomizations, err = isoCustomizations(t, bp.Customizations)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
@@ -951,6 +963,7 @@ func imageInstallerImage(t *imageType,
 	img.InstallerCustomizations.EnabledAnacondaModules = append(img.InstallerCustomizations.EnabledAnacondaModules, anaconda.ModuleUsers)
 
 	if img.Kickstart.Unattended {
+		// These remain ISO-only installer boot options (not installed-system kargs).
 		img.InstallerCustomizations.KernelOptionsAppend = append(installerConfig.KickstartUnattendedExtraKernelOpts, img.InstallerCustomizations.KernelOptionsAppend...)
 	}
 
diff --git a/pkg/manifest/anaconda_installer_iso_tree.go b/pkg/manifest/anaconda_installer_iso_tree.go
index 5667ed82a7..b8e45fbef1 100644
--- a/pkg/manifest/anaconda_installer_iso_tree.go
+++ b/pkg/manifest/anaconda_installer_iso_tree.go
@@ -882,6 +882,17 @@ func (p *AnacondaInstallerISOTree) makeKickstartStages(stageOptions *osbuild.Kic
 	if sudoersPost := makeKickstartSudoersPost(kickstartOptions.SudoNopasswd); sudoersPost != nil {
 		stageOptions.Post = append(stageOptions.Post, *sudoersPost)
 	}
+
+	// Apply installed-system kernel arguments via kickstart. This is the
+	// supported path for liveimg/tar payload installers (image-installer),
+	// where the OS tree has no partition table and therefore never runs the
+	// org.osbuild.kernel-cmdline stage.
+	if len(kickstartOptions.KernelOptionsAppend) > 0 {
+		stageOptions.Bootloader = &osbuild.BootloaderOptions{
+			Append: strings.Join(kickstartOptions.KernelOptionsAppend, " "),
+		}
+	}
+
 	stages = append(stages, osbuild.NewKickstartStage(stageOptions))
 
 	if p.SubscriptionPipeline != nil {