diff --git a/man/kernel-install.xml b/man/kernel-install.xml
index 273270f550..3de95f7088 100644
--- a/man/kernel-install.xml
+++ b/man/kernel-install.xml
@@ -211,7 +211,9 @@
           <filename>/etc/machine-id</filename>
         </term>
           <listitem>
-            <para>The content of the file specifies the machine identification <replaceable>MACHINE-ID</replaceable>.</para>
+            <para>The content of this file specifies the machine identification
+            <replaceable>MACHINE-ID</replaceable>. If it cannot read <filename>/etc/machine-id</filename>,
+            kernel-install will use "Linux" as the machine ID instead.</para>
           </listitem>
       </varlistentry>
       <varlistentry>
diff --git a/src/kernel-install/kernel-install b/src/kernel-install/kernel-install
index e2590c434c..ca21be7e61 100755
--- a/src/kernel-install/kernel-install
+++ b/src/kernel-install/kernel-install
@@ -87,6 +87,8 @@ KERNEL_IMAGE="$2"
 
 if [[ -f /etc/machine-id ]]; then
     read MACHINE_ID < /etc/machine-id
+else
+    MACHINE_ID="Linux"
 fi
 
 if [[ ! $COMMAND ]] || [[ ! $KERNEL_VERSION ]]; then
@@ -94,10 +96,7 @@ if [[ ! $COMMAND ]] || [[ ! $KERNEL_VERSION ]]; then
     exit 1
 fi
 
-if ! [[ $MACHINE_ID ]]; then
-    ENTRY_DIR_ABS=$(mktemp -d /tmp/kernel-install.XXXXX) || exit 1
-    trap "rm -rf '$ENTRY_DIR_ABS'" EXIT INT QUIT PIPE
-elif [[ -d /efi/loader/entries ]] || [[ -d /efi/$MACHINE_ID ]]; then
+if [[ -d /efi/loader/entries ]] || [[ -d /efi/$MACHINE_ID ]]; then
     ENTRY_DIR_ABS="/efi/$MACHINE_ID/$KERNEL_VERSION"
 elif [[ -d /boot/loader/entries ]] || [[ -d /boot/$MACHINE_ID ]]; then
     ENTRY_DIR_ABS="/boot/$MACHINE_ID/$KERNEL_VERSION"
@@ -146,14 +145,6 @@ case $COMMAND in
                 ((ret+=$x))
             fi
         done
-
-        if ! [[ $MACHINE_ID ]] && ! rmdir "$ENTRY_DIR_ABS"; then
-            echo "Warning: In kernel-install plugins, requiring ENTRY_DIR_ABS to be preset is deprecated." >&2
-            echo "         All plugins should not put anything in ENTRY_DIR_ABS if the environment" >&2
-            echo "         variable KERNEL_INSTALL_MACHINE_ID is empty." >&2
-            rm -rf "$ENTRY_DIR_ABS"
-            ((ret+=$?))
-        fi
         ;;
 
     remove)