diff --git a/src/pylorax/instroot.py b/src/pylorax/instroot.py
index 98118c1c..b56b3323 100644
--- a/src/pylorax/instroot.py
+++ b/src/pylorax/instroot.py
@@ -118,10 +118,18 @@ def installPackages(yumconf=None, destdir=None, packages=None):
     if yumconf is None or destdir is None or packages is None or packages == []:
         return False
 
+    # build the list of arguments to pass to yum
     arglist = ['-c', yumconf]
     arglist.append("--installroot=%s" % (destdir,))
     arglist += ['install', '-y'] + packages
 
+    # do some prep work on the destdir before calling yum
+    os.makedirs(os.path.join(destdir, 'var', 'lib'))
+    os.makedirs(os.path.join(destdir, 'tmp'))
+    os.makedirs(os.path.join(destdir, 'var', 'log'))
+    os.makedirs(os.path.join(destdir, 'var', 'lib', 'yum'))
+    os.symlink(os.path.join(os.path.sep, 'tmp'), os.path.join(destdir, 'var', 'lib', 'xkb'))
+
     # XXX: sort through yum errcodes and return False for actual bad things
     # we care about
     errcode = yummain.user_main(arglist, exit_code=False)