diff --git a/package/skeleton-init-common/skeleton-init-common.mk b/package/skeleton-init-common/skeleton-init-common.mk
index 8228a8103f..6a187b54b6 100644
--- a/package/skeleton-init-common/skeleton-init-common.mk
+++ b/package/skeleton-init-common/skeleton-init-common.mk
@@ -44,8 +44,9 @@ ifneq ($(SKELETON_INIT_COMMON_HOSTNAME),)
 define SKELETON_INIT_COMMON_SET_HOSTNAME
 	mkdir -p $(TARGET_DIR)/etc
 	echo "$(SKELETON_INIT_COMMON_HOSTNAME)" > $(TARGET_DIR)/etc/hostname
-	$(SED) '$$a \127.0.1.1\t$(SKELETON_INIT_COMMON_HOSTNAME)' \
-		-e '/^127.0.1.1/d' $(TARGET_DIR)/etc/hosts
+	test -f $(TARGET_DIR)/etc/hosts && $(SED) \
+		'$$a \127.0.1.1\t$(SKELETON_INIT_COMMON_HOSTNAME)' \
+		-e '/^127.0.1.1/d' $(TARGET_DIR)/etc/hosts || true
 endef
 SKELETON_INIT_COMMON_TARGET_FINALIZE_HOOKS += SKELETON_INIT_COMMON_SET_HOSTNAME
 endif
@@ -70,7 +71,7 @@ else # !BR2_TARGET_ENABLE_ROOT_LOGIN
 SKELETON_INIT_COMMON_ROOT_PASSWORD = "*"
 endif
 define SKELETON_INIT_COMMON_SET_ROOT_PASSWD
-	$(SED) s,^root:[^:]*:,root:$(SKELETON_INIT_COMMON_ROOT_PASSWORD):, $(TARGET_DIR)/etc/shadow
+	test -f $(TARGET_DIR)/etc/shadow && $(SED) s,^root:[^:]*:,root:$(SKELETON_INIT_COMMON_ROOT_PASSWORD):, $(TARGET_DIR)/etc/shadow || true
 endef
 SKELETON_INIT_COMMON_TARGET_FINALIZE_HOOKS += SKELETON_INIT_COMMON_SET_ROOT_PASSWD