diff --git a/build_image b/build_image
index 2779fc064d..c6319b94db 100755
--- a/build_image
+++ b/build_image
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ DEFINE_string boot_args "noinitrd" \
   "Additional boot arguments to pass to the commandline"
 DEFINE_boolean enable_rootfs_verification ${FLAGS_TRUE} \
   "Default all bootloaders to use kernel-based root fs integrity checking."
+DEFINE_boolean full "${FLAGS_FALSE}" "Build full image with all partitions."
 DEFINE_string output_root "${DEFAULT_BUILD_ROOT}/images" \
   "Directory in which to place image result directories (named by version)"
 DEFINE_integer rootfs_hash_pad 8 \
diff --git a/build_library/base_image_util.sh b/build_library/base_image_util.sh
index a259b69f3b..b2fd6cd3ac 100755
--- a/build_library/base_image_util.sh
+++ b/build_library/base_image_util.sh
@@ -221,6 +221,10 @@ create_base_image() {
   loopback_cleanup
   trap delete_prompt EXIT
 
+  if [[ ${FLAGS_full} -eq ${FLAGS_TRUE} ]]; then
+    dd if=/dev/zero of="${BUILD_DIR}/${image_name}" bs=1M count=3584
+  fi
+
   # Create the GPT-formatted image.
   build_gpt "${BUILD_DIR}/${image_name}" \
             "${ROOT_FS_IMG}" \
diff --git a/build_library/build_gpt.sh b/build_library/build_gpt.sh
index 18b515bdb7..74285d376b 100755
--- a/build_library/build_gpt.sh
+++ b/build_library/build_gpt.sh
@@ -54,11 +54,14 @@ build_gpt() {
     return 1
   fi
 
+  GPT_FULL="false"
+  [ "${FLAGS_full}" -eq "${FLAGS_TRUE}" ] && GPT_FULL="true"
+
   # Create the GPT. This has the side-effect of setting some global vars
   # describing the partition table entries (see the comments in the source).
   install_gpt "$outdev" $(numsectors "$rootfs_img") \
     $(numsectors "$stateful_img") $pmbr_img $(numsectors "$esp_img") \
-    false $FLAGS_rootfs_partition_size
+    $GPT_FULL $FLAGS_rootfs_partition_size
 
   local sudo=
   if [ ! -w "$outdev" ] ; then