diff --git a/bin/cros_overlay_list b/bin/cros_overlay_list
index 2cf911a858..7031068261 100755
--- a/bin/cros_overlay_list
+++ b/bin/cros_overlay_list
@@ -6,9 +6,24 @@
 
 # This script generates the list of board overlays and variants.
 
-# Load common constants.  This should be the first executable line.
-# The path to common.sh should be relative to your script's location.
-. "$(dirname "$0")/../common.sh"
+# Load common CrOS utilities.  Inside the chroot this file is installed in
+# /usr/lib/crosutils.  Outside the chroot we find it relative to the scripts
+# location.
+common_paths="/usr/lib/crosutils $(dirname "$0")/.."
+
+for path in ${common_paths} ; do
+  if [ -f "${path}/common.sh" ] ; then
+    COMMON_SH="${path}/common.sh"
+    break
+  fi
+done
+
+if [ -z "${COMMON_SH}" ] ; then
+  error "common.sh not found in search path (${common_paths})"
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+. "${COMMON_SH}"
 
 get_default_board