diff --git a/gen_initramfs.sh b/gen_initramfs.sh
index 3278629..a323ba2 100755
--- a/gen_initramfs.sh
+++ b/gen_initramfs.sh
@@ -690,25 +690,33 @@ append_ld_so_conf() {
     # but we need to generate a valid ld.so.conf. So we extract the
     # current CPIO archive, run ldconfig -r against it and append the
     # last bits.
-    local tmp_dir_ext="${tmp_dir}/extracted"
-    mkdir -p "${tmp_dir_ext}"
-    mkdir -p "${tmp_dir}/etc"
-    cd "${tmp_dir_ext}" || gen_die "cannot cd into ${tmp_dir_ext}"
-    cpio -id --quiet < "${CPIO}" || gen_die "cannot re-extract ${CPIO}"
-
-    cd "${tmp_dir}" || gen_die "cannot cd into ${tmp_dir}"
-    ldconfig -r "${tmp_dir_ext}" || \
-        gen_die "cannot run ldconfig on ${tmp_dir_ext}"
-    cp -a "${tmp_dir_ext}/etc/ld.so.cache" "${tmp_dir}/etc/ld.so.cache" || \
-        gen_die "cannot copy ld.so.cache"
-    rm -rf "${tmp_dir_ext}"
+    #
+    # We only do this if we are "root", because "ldconfig -r" requires
+    # root privileges to chroot. If we are not root we don't generate the
+    # ld.so.cache here, but expect that ldconfig would regenerate it when the
+    # machine boots.
+    if [[ $(id -u) == 0 && -z ${FAKED_MODE:-} ]]; then
+        local tmp_dir_ext="${tmp_dir}/extracted"
+        mkdir -p "${tmp_dir_ext}"
+        mkdir -p "${tmp_dir}/etc"
+        cd "${tmp_dir_ext}" || gen_die "cannot cd into ${tmp_dir_ext}"
+        cpio -id --quiet < "${CPIO}" || gen_die "cannot re-extract ${CPIO}"
+
+        cd "${tmp_dir}" || gen_die "cannot cd into ${tmp_dir}"
+        ldconfig -r "${tmp_dir_ext}" || \
+            gen_die "cannot run ldconfig on ${tmp_dir_ext}"
+        cp -a "${tmp_dir_ext}/etc/ld.so.cache" "${tmp_dir}/etc/ld.so.cache" || \
+            gen_die "cannot copy ld.so.cache"
+        rm -rf "${tmp_dir_ext}"
+
+        cd "${tmp_dir}" || gen_die "cannot cd into ${tmp_dir}"
+        log_future_cpio_content
+        find . -print | cpio ${CPIO_ARGS} --append -F "${CPIO}" \
+                || gen_die "compressing ld.so.cache cpio"
+        cd "$(dirname "${tmp_dir}")"
+        rm -rf "${tmp_dir}"
+    fi
 
-    cd "${tmp_dir}" || gen_die "cannot cd into ${tmp_dir}"
-    log_future_cpio_content
-    find . -print | cpio ${CPIO_ARGS} --append -F "${CPIO}" \
-            || gen_die "compressing ld.so.cache cpio"
-    cd "$(dirname "${tmp_dir}")"
-    rm -rf "${tmp_dir}"
 }
 
 print_list()
@@ -1001,10 +1009,8 @@ create_initramfs() {
         append_data 'overlay'
     fi
 
-    if [[ $(id -u) == 0 && -z ${FAKED_MODE:-} ]]; then
-        # keep this at the very end, generates /etc/ld.so.conf* and cache
-        append_data 'ld_so_conf'
-    fi
+    # keep this at the very end, generates /etc/ld.so.conf* and cache
+    append_data 'ld_so_conf'
 
     # Finalize cpio by removing duplicate files
     print_info 1 "        >> Finalizing cpio..."