diff --git a/libguestfs.changes b/libguestfs.changes
index 7901205..77cd873 100644
--- a/libguestfs.changes
+++ b/libguestfs.changes
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+-------------------------------------------------------------------
+Thu Sep 20 17:39:23 CEST 2012 - ohering@suse.de
+
+- use ttyS0 for setctsid if /proc/consoles does not exist
+
 -------------------------------------------------------------------
 Wed Sep 19 23:48:08 CEST 2012 - ohering@suse.de
 
diff --git a/libguestfs.mkinitrd.boot.sh b/libguestfs.mkinitrd.boot.sh
index 62698e6..f8d7f94 100644
--- a/libguestfs.mkinitrd.boot.sh
+++ b/libguestfs.mkinitrd.boot.sh
@@ -154,10 +154,14 @@ else
   # Use appliance in rescue mode, also used by the virt-rescue command.
   eval $(grep -Eo 'TERM=[^[:space:]]+' /proc/cmdline)
   PS1='><rescue> '
-  console_major_minor="`sed 's@^.* @@;p;Q' < /proc/consoles `"
-  console_dev="`find /sys/ -name dev -type f -print0 | xargs -0 --no-run-if-empty grep -m 1 -l ${console_major_minor}`"
-  console_kname=${console_dev%/dev}
-  console_kname=${console_kname##*/}
+  console_kname=ttyS0
+  if test -f /proc/consoles
+  then
+    console_major_minor="`sed 's@^.* @@;p;Q' < /proc/consoles `"
+    console_dev="`find /sys/ -name dev -type f -print0 | xargs -0 --no-run-if-empty grep -m 1 -l ${console_major_minor}`"
+    console_kname=${console_dev%/dev}
+    console_kname=${console_kname##*/}
+  fi
   export TERM PS1
   echo
   echo "------------------------------------------------------------"