diff --git a/Makefile-tests.am b/Makefile-tests.am
index 417a304a42..2c0916f620 100644
--- a/Makefile-tests.am
+++ b/Makefile-tests.am
@@ -102,6 +102,7 @@ _installed_or_uninstalled_test_scripts = \
 	tests/test-admin-deploy-etcmerge-cornercases.sh \
 	tests/test-admin-deploy-uboot.sh \
 	tests/test-admin-deploy-grub2.sh \
+	tests/test-admin-deploy-none.sh \
 	tests/test-admin-deploy-bootid-gc.sh \
 	tests/test-admin-instutil-set-kargs.sh \
 	tests/test-admin-upgrade-not-backwards.sh \
diff --git a/src/libostree/ostree-repo-private.h b/src/libostree/ostree-repo-private.h
index 40be72633d..6bc74c2d23 100644
--- a/src/libostree/ostree-repo-private.h
+++ b/src/libostree/ostree-repo-private.h
@@ -169,6 +169,7 @@ struct OstreeRepo {
   guint64 payload_link_threshold;
   gint fs_support_reflink; /* The underlying filesystem has support for ioctl (FICLONE..) */
   gchar **repo_finders;
+  gchar *bootloader; /* Configure which bootloader to use. */
 
   OstreeRepo *parent_repo;
 };
diff --git a/src/libostree/ostree-repo.c b/src/libostree/ostree-repo.c
index a71f3bdaff..52c2b88178 100644
--- a/src/libostree/ostree-repo.c
+++ b/src/libostree/ostree-repo.c
@@ -3113,6 +3113,27 @@ reload_remote_config (OstreeRepo          *self,
   return TRUE;
 }
 
+static gboolean
+reload_sysroot_config (OstreeRepo          *self,
+                       GCancellable        *cancellable,
+                       GError             **error)
+{
+  { g_autofree char *bootloader = NULL;
+
+    if (!ot_keyfile_get_value_with_default_group_optional (self->config, "sysroot",
+                                                           "bootloader", "auto",
+                                                           &bootloader, error))
+      return FALSE;
+
+    if (bootloader == NULL)
+      return glnx_throw (error, "Invalid empty bootloader configuration");
+
+    self->bootloader = g_steal_pointer (&bootloader);
+  }
+
+  return TRUE;
+}
+
 /**
  * ostree_repo_reload_config:
  * @self: repo
@@ -3131,6 +3152,8 @@ ostree_repo_reload_config (OstreeRepo          *self,
     return FALSE;
   if (!reload_remote_config (self, cancellable, error))
     return FALSE;
+  if (!reload_sysroot_config (self, cancellable, error))
+    return FALSE;
   return TRUE;
 }
 
@@ -6064,3 +6087,21 @@ ostree_repo_get_default_repo_finders (OstreeRepo *self)
 
   return (const gchar * const *)self->repo_finders;
 }
+
+/**
+ * ostree_repo_get_bootloader:
+ * @self: an #OstreeRepo
+ * 
+ * Get the bootloader configured. See the documentation for the
+ * "sysroot.bootloader" config key.
+ * 
+ * Returns: bootloader configuration for the sysroot
+ * Since: 2019.2
+ */
+const gchar *
+ostree_repo_get_bootloader (OstreeRepo   *self)
+{
+  g_return_val_if_fail (OSTREE_IS_REPO (self), NULL);
+
+  return self->bootloader;
+}
diff --git a/src/libostree/ostree-repo.h b/src/libostree/ostree-repo.h
index 6e325b8b30..7eb983cfa0 100644
--- a/src/libostree/ostree-repo.h
+++ b/src/libostree/ostree-repo.h
@@ -115,6 +115,9 @@ gboolean      ostree_repo_set_collection_id (OstreeRepo   *self,
 _OSTREE_PUBLIC
 const gchar * const * ostree_repo_get_default_repo_finders (OstreeRepo   *self);
 
+_OSTREE_PUBLIC
+const gchar * ostree_repo_get_bootloader (OstreeRepo   *self);
+
 _OSTREE_PUBLIC
 GFile *       ostree_repo_get_path (OstreeRepo  *self);
 
diff --git a/src/libostree/ostree-sysroot-deploy.c b/src/libostree/ostree-sysroot-deploy.c
index b16f65b334..0c9c0d9cb6 100644
--- a/src/libostree/ostree-sysroot-deploy.c
+++ b/src/libostree/ostree-sysroot-deploy.c
@@ -2310,6 +2310,7 @@ ostree_sysroot_write_deployments_with_options (OstreeSysroot     *self,
   gboolean bootloader_is_atomic = FALSE;
   SyncStats syncstats = { 0, };
   g_autoptr(OstreeBootloader) bootloader = NULL;
+  const char *bootloader_config = NULL;
   if (!requires_new_bootversion)
     {
       if (!create_new_bootlinks (self, self->bootversion,
@@ -2342,8 +2343,36 @@ ostree_sysroot_write_deployments_with_options (OstreeSysroot     *self,
             return glnx_throw_errno_prefix (error, "Remounting /boot read-write");
         }
 
-      if (!_ostree_sysroot_query_bootloader (self, &bootloader, cancellable, error))
-        return FALSE;
+      g_autoptr(OstreeRepo) repo = NULL;
+      if (!ostree_sysroot_get_repo (self, &repo, cancellable, error))
+        return glnx_throw (error, "Loading repo config");
+
+      bootloader_config = ostree_repo_get_bootloader (repo);
+
+      g_debug ("Using bootloader configuration: %s", bootloader_config);
+
+      if (g_str_equal (bootloader_config, "auto"))
+        {
+          if (!_ostree_sysroot_query_bootloader (self, &bootloader, cancellable, error))
+            return FALSE;
+        }
+      else if (g_str_equal (bootloader_config, "none"))
+        {
+          /* No bootloader specified; do not query bootloaders to run. */
+        }
+      else
+        {
+          /* TODO: later add support for specifying a generic
+           * bootloader binary here (e.g. bootloader=x means
+           * run /usr/lib/ostree/bootloaders/x). Override
+           * with /etc/ostree/bootloaders/x possibly.
+           * See:
+           * https://github.com/ostreedev/ostree/issues/1719
+           * https://github.com/ostreedev/ostree/issues/1801
+           */
+          return glnx_throw (error, "Unsupported bootloader option '%s'", bootloader_config);
+        }
+
       bootloader_is_atomic = bootloader != NULL && _ostree_bootloader_is_atomic (bootloader);
 
       /* Note equivalent of try/finally here */
@@ -2375,6 +2404,7 @@ ostree_sysroot_write_deployments_with_options (OstreeSysroot     *self,
     sd_journal_send ("MESSAGE_ID=" SD_ID128_FORMAT_STR, SD_ID128_FORMAT_VAL(OSTREE_DEPLOYMENT_COMPLETE_ID),
                      "MESSAGE=%s", msg,
                      "OSTREE_BOOTLOADER=%s", bootloader ? _ostree_bootloader_get_name (bootloader) : "none",
+                     "OSTREE_BOOTLOADER_CONFIG=%s", bootloader_config,
                      "OSTREE_BOOTLOADER_ATOMIC=%s", bootloader_is_atomic ? "yes" : "no",
                      "OSTREE_DID_BOOTSWAP=%s", requires_new_bootversion ? "yes" : "no",
                      "OSTREE_N_DEPLOYMENTS=%u", new_deployments->len,
diff --git a/tests/libtest.sh b/tests/libtest.sh
index f09f4a2c52..08ce8f04c0 100755
--- a/tests/libtest.sh
+++ b/tests/libtest.sh
@@ -355,6 +355,11 @@ setup_os_boot_grub2() {
     esac
 }
 
+setup_os_boot_configured_bootloader() {
+    bootloader_keyval=$1
+    ostree --repo=sysroot/ostree/repo config set ${bootloader_keyval}
+}
+
 setup_os_repository () {
     mode=$1
     shift
@@ -448,6 +453,9 @@ EOF
         *grub2*)
         setup_os_boot_grub2 "${bootmode}"
             ;;
+        sysroot\.bootloader*)
+        setup_os_boot_configured_bootloader "${bootmode}"
+            ;;
     esac
 
     cd ${test_tmpdir}
diff --git a/tests/test-admin-deploy-none.sh b/tests/test-admin-deploy-none.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..4b49bda041
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test-admin-deploy-none.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+#
+# Copyright (C) 2019 Robert Fairley <rfairley@redhat.com>
+#
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: LGPL-2.0+
+#
+# This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
+# modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
+# License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
+# version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
+#
+# This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
+# Lesser General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
+# License along with this library; if not, write to the
+# Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330,
+# Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.
+
+set -euo pipefail
+
+. $(dirname $0)/libtest.sh
+
+# Exports OSTREE_SYSROOT so --sysroot not needed.
+setup_os_repository "archive" "sysroot.bootloader none" "boot"
+
+extra_admin_tests=0
+
+. $(dirname $0)/admin-test.sh