diff --git a/release/tools/arm.subr b/release/tools/arm.subr
index c5adbaf063d7..118073408466 100644
--- a/release/tools/arm.subr
+++ b/release/tools/arm.subr
@@ -99,6 +99,16 @@ arm_install_base() {
 		TARGET_ARCH=${EMBEDDED_TARGET_ARCH} \
 		DESTDIR=${DESTDIR} KERNCONF=${KERNEL} \
 		installworld installkernel distribution
+
+	# Bootstrap etcupdate(8) and mergemaster(8) databases.
+	mkdir -p ${DESTDIR}/var/db/etcupdate
+	etcupdate extract -B \
+		-M "TARGET=${EMBEDDED_TARGET} TARGET_ARCH=${EMBEDDED_TARGET_ARCH}" \
+		-s ${WORLDDIR} -d ${DESTDIR}/var/db/etcupdate
+	sh ${WORLDDIR}/release/scripts/mm-mtree.sh -m ${WORLDDIR} \
+		-F "TARGET=${EMBEDDED_TARGET} TARGET_ARCH=${EMBEDDED_TARGET_ARCH}" \
+		-D ${DESTDIR}
+
 	chroot ${CHROOTDIR} mkdir -p ${DESTDIR}/boot/msdos
 
 	arm_create_user
diff --git a/release/tools/vmimage.subr b/release/tools/vmimage.subr
index fe937defc27a..3039e2efb5f9 100644
--- a/release/tools/vmimage.subr
+++ b/release/tools/vmimage.subr
@@ -122,6 +122,15 @@ vm_install_base() {
 		installworld installkernel distribution || \
 		err "\n\nCannot install the base system to ${DESTDIR}."
 
+	# Bootstrap etcupdate(8) and mergemaster(8) databases.
+	mkdir -p ${DESTDIR}/var/db/etcupdate
+	etcupdate extract -B \
+		-M "TARGET=${TARGET} TARGET_ARCH=${TARGET_ARCH}" \
+		-s ${WORLDDIR} -d ${DESTDIR}/var/db/etcupdate
+	sh ${WORLDDIR}/release/scripts/mm-mtree.sh -m ${WORLDDIR} \
+		-F "TARGET=${TARGET} TARGET_ARCH=${TARGET_ARCH}" \
+		-D ${DESTDIR}
+
 	echo '# Custom /etc/fstab for FreeBSD VM images' \
 		> ${DESTDIR}/etc/fstab
 	echo "/dev/${ROOTLABEL}/rootfs   /       ufs     rw      1       1" \