diff --git a/system/bootloader.sls b/system/bootloader.sls
index 93385b9..04adc39 100644
--- a/system/bootloader.sls
+++ b/system/bootloader.sls
@@ -69,6 +69,10 @@ system_bootloader_menuentry:
     - require:
       - system_base_pkgs
       - system_bootloader_pkgs
+  file.replace:
+    - name: /etc/grub.d/40_custom
+    - pattern: {{ "# the 'exec tail' line above." | regex_escape }}
+    - repl: null
 
 system_bootloader_config:
   cmd.run:
@@ -84,7 +88,7 @@ system_bootloader_remove_default_menuentry:
     - name: /efi/grub/grub.cfg
     - marker_start: "### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###"
     - marker_end: "### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###"
-    - content: ""
+    - content: null
     - require:
       - system_bootloader_install
       - system_bootloader_config
diff --git a/system/files/bootloader_menuentry b/system/files/bootloader_menuentry
index 99a0674..ade1071 100644
--- a/system/files/bootloader_menuentry
+++ b/system/files/bootloader_menuentry
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+cat <<EOF 
 menuentry 'Noveria Alpine {{ CURRENT_SUBVOLUME_TIMESTAMP_HUMAN }}' --class alpine --class gnu-linux --class os $menuentry_id_option 'alpine-{{ CURRENT_SUBVOLUME_TIMESTAMP }}' {
   load_video
   insmod gzio
@@ -9,3 +10,4 @@ menuentry 'Noveria Alpine {{ CURRENT_SUBVOLUME_TIMESTAMP_HUMAN }}' --class alpin
   echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
   initrd /@root_{{ CURRENT_SUBVOLUME_TIMESTAMP }}/boot/initramfs-lts
 }
+EOF