diff --git a/sdk_container/src/third_party/coreos-overlay/sys-apps/systemd/Manifest b/sdk_container/src/third_party/coreos-overlay/sys-apps/systemd/Manifest
index f41718aae1..b3c4bf25f2 100644
--- a/sdk_container/src/third_party/coreos-overlay/sys-apps/systemd/Manifest
+++ b/sdk_container/src/third_party/coreos-overlay/sys-apps/systemd/Manifest
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
 DIST systemd-207.tar.xz 2363804 SHA256 ac1f8120315e7969063bbb0c181c8dc59509aeaf10c4266077c257a182ad5942 SHA512 566c6126fea038cb182608f7b9c3bb4410d0622cb637f30c60fba73c9052f7a36d2b0f790e3d94bb751080448ba14cee600481da378f5e97b0f5becfc849be54 WHIRLPOOL 823c3064e1e961599011d4cd027f5e2d0ba3b434c67b880d1a541720220f40c7cc82211f3f086042dbb440b2c7e11e1379aa0d656e33a2a7ba5b1d7e45b904f7
-DIST systemd-209.tar.xz 2607304 SHA256 4cadef26adcd846e3f2b90502e64f590430baf59aea87491d25aac2e50b23d18 SHA512 0d9a4f1f69b51da0621f15c2e0fde94540be767117b97298a66eab79ecb8bc0288fd7c568253be3a48a4c6d4881a822bf84434dc17028fc6f8a94fa1cc1b27cb WHIRLPOOL bebcb5fa76f91788c30ce6320e9c51325dd3b2f9ce81509e822f3f2a510b252c38aa3de19f429db6fbb2d7f0be9cfb6e7c6908041361fcd3f0350482a78e7d20
+DIST systemd-211.tar.xz 2664508 SHA256 f278c1ff6f0f0efadf0f7fff01ed6a0ead1a7868b5a9e1baa240e1673e516648 SHA512 fd33920825d0b63bf6e6a583cbfbf44fe577428f5fa6993b659d7f310f8fbdb3f5b22d585818ec4b834fd0703bc5d6bf93e6925e5c391f14ee65f44c0878d5e5 WHIRLPOOL 26205fc02cb13fb8f43c23888d83c31daa676c117a32e65adbc372e8eb974fe7e37f560b85b72abb4cfc832a45a6658858a1cca17a526baa967ba2d95904a448
diff --git a/sdk_container/src/third_party/coreos-overlay/sys-apps/systemd/files/211-0001-nspawn-allow-EEXIST-on-mkdir_safe-home-uid.patch b/sdk_container/src/third_party/coreos-overlay/sys-apps/systemd/files/211-0001-nspawn-allow-EEXIST-on-mkdir_safe-home-uid.patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..856dde869c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sdk_container/src/third_party/coreos-overlay/sys-apps/systemd/files/211-0001-nspawn-allow-EEXIST-on-mkdir_safe-home-uid.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+From aca07d5e53da1970b31907fc07237800424e84f1 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
+From: Brandon Philips <brandon.philips@coreos.com>
+Date: Thu, 13 Mar 2014 15:19:40 -0700
+Subject: [PATCH] nspawn: allow -EEXIST on mkdir_safe /home/${uid}
+
+With systemd 211 nspawn attempts to create the home directory for the
+given uid. However, if the home directory already exists then it will
+fail. Don't error out on -EEXIST.
+---
+ src/nspawn/nspawn.c | 2 +-
+ 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)
+
+diff --git a/src/nspawn/nspawn.c b/src/nspawn/nspawn.c
+index b637b51..7c3d7b8 100644
+--- a/src/nspawn/nspawn.c
++++ b/src/nspawn/nspawn.c
+@@ -2543,7 +2543,7 @@ static int change_uid_gid(char **_home) {
+         }
+ 
+         r = mkdir_safe(home, 0755, uid, gid);
+-        if (r < 0) {
++        if (r < 0 && r != -EEXIST) {
+                 log_error("Failed to make home directory: %s", strerror(-r));
+                 return r;
+         }
+-- 
+1.8.5.2 (Apple Git-48)
+
diff --git a/sdk_container/src/third_party/coreos-overlay/sys-apps/systemd/files/211-handle-empty-etc-os-release.patch b/sdk_container/src/third_party/coreos-overlay/sys-apps/systemd/files/211-handle-empty-etc-os-release.patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c4c7654e3c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sdk_container/src/third_party/coreos-overlay/sys-apps/systemd/files/211-handle-empty-etc-os-release.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+From foo@baz Wed Mar 12 23:13:38 +0000
+Date: Wed, 12 Mar 2014 23:13:38 +0000
+From: Greg Kroah-Hartman <greg@kroah.com>
+Subject: Handle empty /etc/os-release
+
+systemd uses /etc/os-release as a "flag" file to see if the filesystem
+really is an operating system image or not.  As we "know" we will always
+boot a valid filesystem, and we want to be able to handle an empty /etc
+directory (tmpfiles will recreate it, it is a symlink) just comment out
+the check and move on with our lives.
+
+
+diff --git a/src/core/dbus-manager.c b/src/core/dbus-manager.c
+index 30f28b6e2cd6..a270834f47d8 100644
+--- a/src/core/dbus-manager.c
++++ b/src/core/dbus-manager.c
+@@ -1133,7 +1133,7 @@ static int method_switch_root(sd_bus *bus, sd_bus_message *message, void *userda
+ 
+         /* Safety check */
+         if (isempty(init)) {
+-                if (! path_is_os_tree(root))
++                if (0)
+                         return sd_bus_error_setf(error, SD_BUS_ERROR_INVALID_ARGS, "Specified switch root path %s does not seem to be an OS tree. /etc/os-release is missing.", root);
+         } else {
+                 _cleanup_free_ char *p = NULL;
diff --git a/sdk_container/src/third_party/coreos-overlay/sys-apps/systemd/systemd-211.ebuild b/sdk_container/src/third_party/coreos-overlay/sys-apps/systemd/systemd-211-r1.ebuild
similarity index 98%
rename from sdk_container/src/third_party/coreos-overlay/sys-apps/systemd/systemd-211.ebuild
rename to sdk_container/src/third_party/coreos-overlay/sys-apps/systemd/systemd-211-r1.ebuild
index 1fbbc7fda4..d7770e34d2 100644
--- a/sdk_container/src/third_party/coreos-overlay/sys-apps/systemd/systemd-211.ebuild
+++ b/sdk_container/src/third_party/coreos-overlay/sys-apps/systemd/systemd-211-r1.ebuild
@@ -105,7 +105,12 @@ KEYWORDS=
 fi
 
 src_prepare() {
+	# CoreOs specific hacks^Wfeatures
+	epatch "${FILESDIR}"/211-handle-empty-etc-os-release.patch
+
+	# upstream fixes not yet in the release
 	epatch "${FILESDIR}"/211-tmpfiles.patch
+	epatch "${FILESDIR}"/211-0001-nspawn-allow-EEXIST-on-mkdir_safe-home-uid.patch
 
 if [[ ${PV} == *9999 ]]; then
 	if use doc; then