diff --git a/target/linux/ath79/image/common-tp-link.mk b/target/linux/ath79/image/common-tp-link.mk
index 01733b01c5..e38870d993 100644
--- a/target/linux/ath79/image/common-tp-link.mk
+++ b/target/linux/ath79/image/common-tp-link.mk
@@ -102,6 +102,7 @@ endef
 define Device/tplink-safeloader
   $(Device/tplink)
   KERNEL := kernel-bin | append-dtb | lzma | tplink-v1-header -O
+  KERNEL_INITRAMFS := $$(KERNEL)
   IMAGE/sysupgrade.bin := append-rootfs | tplink-safeloader sysupgrade | \
     append-metadata | check-size $$$$(IMAGE_SIZE)
   IMAGE/factory.bin := append-rootfs | tplink-safeloader factory
@@ -110,4 +111,5 @@ endef
 define Device/tplink-safeloader-uimage
   $(Device/tplink-safeloader)
   KERNEL := kernel-bin | append-dtb | lzma | uImageArcher lzma
+  KERNEL_INITRAMFS := $$(KERNEL)
 endef