diff --git a/build-image.sh b/build-image.sh
index 55538ac..60a1184 100755
--- a/build-image.sh
+++ b/build-image.sh
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ show_usage() {
     echo -e 'Usage: build-image.sh [OPTION]...\n'
     echo '  -h, --help             show this message and exit'
     echo "  -r, --release RELEASE  target MSVSphere release, default is ${RELEASE}"
-    echo '  -t, --type TYPE        image type, supported values are: default.'
+    echo '  -t, --type TYPE        image type, supported values are: default, systemd.'
     echo "                         Default value is '${IMAGE_TYPE}'"
     echo "  -o, --output DIR       output directory path, default is ${BASE_DIR}"
     echo '  -v, --version          show program version and exit'
@@ -43,6 +43,11 @@ gen_dockerfile() {
     default)
         echo 'CMD ["/bin/bash"]'
         ;;
+    systemd)
+        echo 'STOPSIGNAL SIGRTMIN+3'
+        echo ''
+        echo 'CMD ["/sbin/init"]'
+        ;;
     *)
         log_error "unsupported image type ${IMAGE_TYPE}"
         exit 1
@@ -93,9 +98,18 @@ if [[ "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" == "${0}" ]]; then
             show_usage
             exit 0
             ;;
+        -r | --release)
+            if [[ -z "${2}" ]]; then
+                log_error 'release is required'
+                exit 2
+            fi
+            RELEASE="${2}"
+            shift
+            shift
+            ;;
         -t | --type)
             case "${2}" in
-            default)
+            default | systemd)
                 IMAGE_TYPE="${2}"
                 ;;
             *)
diff --git a/kickstarts/msvsphere-9-systemd.ks b/kickstarts/msvsphere-9-systemd.ks
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c857085
--- /dev/null
+++ b/kickstarts/msvsphere-9-systemd.ks
@@ -0,0 +1,114 @@
+# MSVSphere 9 systemd Docker image kickstart file
+
+# TODO: change to the kickstart repo URL when we have it
+url --url https://rsync.inferitos.ru/msvsphere/9/BaseOS/$basearch/os/
+repo --name=BaseOS --baseurl=https://rsync.inferitos.ru/msvsphere/9/BaseOS/$basearch/os/
+repo --name=AppStream --baseurl=https://rsync.inferitos.ru/msvsphere/9/AppStream/$basearch/os/
+
+lang C.UTF-8
+keyboard us
+timezone --nontp --utc UTC
+
+network --activate --bootproto=dhcp --device=link --onboot=on
+selinux --disabled
+
+bootloader --disabled
+zerombr
+clearpart --all --initlabel
+autopart --fstype=ext4 --type=plain --nohome --noboot --noswap
+
+rootpw --lock --plaintext msvsphere
+
+shutdown
+
+%packages --excludedocs --nocore --instLangs=en --excludeWeakdeps
+sphere-release
+bash
+coreutils-single
+crypto-policies-scripts
+curl-minimal
+findutils
+gdb-gdbserver
+glibc-minimal-langpack
+gzip
+libcurl-minimal
+libusbx
+procps-ng
+rootfiles
+systemd
+tar
+usermode
+vim-minimal
+virt-what
+yum
+-dosfstools
+-e2fsprogs
+-gnupg2-smime
+-hyperv*
+-kernel
+-langpacks-*
+-langpacks-en
+-libss
+-open-vm-tools
+-pinentry
+-qemu-guest-agent
+-subscription-manager
+-trousers
+-xfsprogs
+-xkeyboard-config
+%end
+
+
+# NOTE: add --log=/root/anaconda-post.log for debugging
+%post --erroronfail
+# generate build time file for compatibility with CentOS
+/bin/date +%Y%m%d_%H%M > /etc/BUILDTIME
+
+# Change format of the RPM database from Berkeley DB to a new SQLite format
+rpmdb --rebuilddb
+
+# set DNF infra variable to container for compatibility with CentOS
+echo 'container' > /etc/dnf/vars/infra
+
+# import MSVSphere PGP key
+rpm --import /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-MSVSphere-9
+
+# install only C.UTF-8 locale files, see
+# https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Changes/Glibc_locale_subpackaging for details
+LANG="C.utf8"
+echo "%_install_langs $LANG" > /etc/rpm/macros.image-language-conf
+
+# https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1727489
+echo 'LANG="C.UTF-8"' >  /etc/locale.conf
+
+# force each container to have a unique machine-id
+> /etc/machine-id
+
+# create tmp directories because there is no tmpfs support in Docker
+umount /run
+systemd-tmpfiles --create --boot
+
+# disable login prompt, mounts and fix: https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1472439
+systemctl mask systemd-remount-fs.service \
+               dev-hugepages.mount \
+               sys-fs-fuse-connections.mount \
+               systemd-logind.service \
+               getty.target \
+               console-getty.service \
+               systemd-udev-trigger.service \
+               systemd-udevd.service \
+               systemd-random-seed.service \
+               systemd-machine-id-commit.service
+
+KEEPLANG=en_US
+for dir in locale i18n; do
+    find /usr/share/${dir} -mindepth  1 -maxdepth 1 -type d -not \( -name "${KEEPLANG}" -o -name POSIX \) -exec rm -rfv {} +
+done
+
+# remove unnecessary files
+rm -f /var/lib/dnf \
+      /run/nologin
+rm -fr /var/log/* \
+       /tmp/* /tmp/.* \
+       /boot || true
+%end