diff --git a/packages/initramfs/sysutils/busybox-initramfs/config/busybox-initramfs.conf b/packages/initramfs/sysutils/busybox-initramfs/config/busybox-initramfs.conf
index 51335670fa..9a088b116a 100644
--- a/packages/initramfs/sysutils/busybox-initramfs/config/busybox-initramfs.conf
+++ b/packages/initramfs/sysutils/busybox-initramfs/config/busybox-initramfs.conf
@@ -151,7 +151,7 @@ CONFIG_GZIP_FAST=0
 # CONFIG_LZOP_COMPR_HIGH is not set
 # CONFIG_RPM2CPIO is not set
 # CONFIG_RPM is not set
-# CONFIG_TAR is not set
+CONFIG_TAR=y
 # CONFIG_FEATURE_TAR_CREATE is not set
 # CONFIG_FEATURE_TAR_AUTODETECT is not set
 # CONFIG_FEATURE_TAR_FROM is not set
@@ -227,7 +227,7 @@ CONFIG_FEATURE_FANCY_ECHO=y
 # CONFIG_FALSE is not set
 # CONFIG_FOLD is not set
 # CONFIG_FSYNC is not set
-# CONFIG_HEAD is not set
+CONFIG_HEAD=y
 # CONFIG_FEATURE_FANCY_HEAD is not set
 # CONFIG_INSTALL is not set
 # CONFIG_FEATURE_INSTALL_LONG_OPTIONS is not set
diff --git a/packages/initramfs/sysutils/busybox-initramfs/scripts/init b/packages/initramfs/sysutils/busybox-initramfs/scripts/init
index 4b66716e0d..0083c8d388 100755
--- a/packages/initramfs/sysutils/busybox-initramfs/scripts/init
+++ b/packages/initramfs/sysutils/busybox-initramfs/scripts/init
@@ -495,7 +495,8 @@
         UPDATE_KERNEL="MACH_KERNEL"
       fi
 
-    if [ -f "$UPDATE_DIR/$UPDATE_KERNEL" -a -f "$UPDATE_DIR/$UPDATE_SYSTEM" ] ; then
+    UPDATE_TAR=`ls -1 "$UPDATE_DIR"/*.tar 2>/dev/null | head -n 1`
+    if [ -f "$UPDATE_DIR/$UPDATE_KERNEL" -a -f "$UPDATE_DIR/$UPDATE_SYSTEM" -o -f "$UPDATE_TAR" ] ; then
       if [ "$UPDATE_DISABLED" = "yes" ] ; then
         rm -rf $UPDATE_DIR/[0-9a-zA-Z]* &>/dev/null
         echo "Updating not supported on netboot. normal startup in 10s..."
@@ -503,6 +504,24 @@
         usleep 10000000
         return 0
       fi
+
+      # check for .tar
+      if [ -f "$UPDATE_TAR" ] ; then
+        echo "Found new .tar archive. extracting..."
+        mkdir -p $UPDATE_DIR/.tmp &>/dev/null
+        tar -xf "$UPDATE_TAR" -C $UPDATE_DIR/.tmp &>/dev/null
+        mv $UPDATE_DIR/.tmp/*/target/* $UPDATE_DIR &>/dev/null
+        rm -f "$UPDATE_TAR" &>/dev/null
+        rm -rf $UPDATE_DIR/.tmp &>/dev/null
+        sync
+        if [ ! -f "$UPDATE_DIR/$UPDATE_KERNEL" -o ! -f "$UPDATE_DIR/$UPDATE_SYSTEM" ] ; then
+          echo "missing ${UPDATE_KERNEL} or ${UPDATE_SYSTEM}... normal startup in 10s"
+          sync
+          usleep 10000000
+          return 0
+        fi
+      fi
+
       if [ -f "$UPDATE_DIR/.nocheck" ] ; then
         MD5_NOCHECK="1"
       fi