diff --git a/elements/boot-stack/README.md b/elements/boot-stack/README.md
index 56fb0aec0..973d6f29c 100644
--- a/elements/boot-stack/README.md
+++ b/elements/boot-stack/README.md
@@ -4,10 +4,10 @@ Description
 -----------
 
 This element contains nova, glance, and keystone services with a default
-configuration for nova-baremetal operation. If building for baremetal
-deployments be sure to also include the nova-baremetal element, which is not
-needed for 'overcloud' (KVM/Xen) deployments and thus is not depended on by
-boot-stack.
+configuration for nova-baremetal operation.
+
+When building an image containing boot-stack be sure to add either nova-kvm or
+nova-baremetal to enabled the appropriate hypervisor.
 
 
 Basic Usage
diff --git a/elements/nova-compute/install.d/80-nova-compute b/elements/nova-compute/install.d/80-nova-compute
index 805b9c751..6150dce3e 100755
--- a/elements/nova-compute/install.d/80-nova-compute
+++ b/elements/nova-compute/install.d/80-nova-compute
@@ -68,16 +68,6 @@ eof
 # Used by all compute
 install-packages dnsmasq dnsmasq-utils ebtables
 
-# for libvirt clouds only
-install-packages libvirt-bin python-libvirt kvm pm-utils syslinux qemu-utils
-
-# Fedora don't always have the libvirtd group created
-if ! grep ^libvirtd /etc/group > /dev/null 2>&1; then
-  groupadd -f libvirtd
-fi
-
-usermod -a -G libvirtd nova
-
 if [ -d /etc/init ]; then
   install_dnsmasq_upstart
 elif [ -d /lib/systemd/system ]; then
@@ -92,7 +82,6 @@ elif [ -f /usr/share/syslinux/pxelinux.0 ]; then
 fi
 
 os-svc-daemon nova-compute  nova nova-compute          "--config-dir /etc/nova"
-os-svc-daemon nova-novncproxy  nova nova-novncproxy          "--config-dir /etc/nova"
 os-svc-daemon nova-baremetal-deploy-helper nova nova-baremetal-deploy-helper "--config-dir /etc/nova"
 
 chown -R nova:nova /var/lib/misc/
diff --git a/elements/nova-compute/os-refresh-config/post-configure.d/80-nova-compute b/elements/nova-compute/os-refresh-config/post-configure.d/80-nova-compute
index a14f16319..4fc570bb9 100755
--- a/elements/nova-compute/os-refresh-config/post-configure.d/80-nova-compute
+++ b/elements/nova-compute/os-refresh-config/post-configure.d/80-nova-compute
@@ -5,13 +5,4 @@ modprobe nbd || true
 
 chown -R nova:nova /var/run/nova
 
-compute_driver=$(os-config-applier --type raw --key nova.compute_driver)
-if [ "$compute_driver" != "baremetal.driver.BareMetalDriver" ] ; then
-    mkdir -p /var/lib/nova/instances/_base
-    chown nova:kvm /var/lib/nova/instances
-    chown nova:kvm /var/lib/nova/instances/_base
-    chmod 750 /var/lib/nova/instances
-    chmod 750 /var/lib/nova/instances/_base
-fi
-
 service nova-compute restart
diff --git a/elements/nova-kvm/README.md b/elements/nova-kvm/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0a23b9fe1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/elements/nova-kvm/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+Nova Compute KVM
+----------------
+
+Software install and configuration hooks for Nova with KVM.
diff --git a/elements/nova-kvm/element-deps b/elements/nova-kvm/element-deps
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ebf043fc9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/elements/nova-kvm/element-deps
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+nova-compute
+os-refresh-config
diff --git a/elements/nova-kvm/install.d/80-nova-kvm b/elements/nova-kvm/install.d/80-nova-kvm
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..9760f992e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/elements/nova-kvm/install.d/80-nova-kvm
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+set -eux
+
+# for libvirt clouds only
+install-packages libvirt-bin python-libvirt kvm pm-utils syslinux qemu-utils
+
+# Fedora don't always have the libvirtd group created
+if ! grep ^libvirtd /etc/group > /dev/null 2>&1; then
+  groupadd -f libvirtd
+fi
+
+usermod -a -G libvirtd nova
+
+os-svc-daemon nova-novncproxy  nova nova-novncproxy          "--config-dir /etc/nova"
diff --git a/elements/nova-kvm/os-refresh-config/configure.d/80-nova-kvm b/elements/nova-kvm/os-refresh-config/configure.d/80-nova-kvm
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..02a293256
--- /dev/null
+++ b/elements/nova-kvm/os-refresh-config/configure.d/80-nova-kvm
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+set -eux
+
+mkdir -p /var/lib/nova/instances/_base
+chown nova:kvm /var/lib/nova/instances
+chown nova:kvm /var/lib/nova/instances/_base
+chmod 750 /var/lib/nova/instances
+chmod 750 /var/lib/nova/instances/_base