diff --git a/meta-digi-arm/conf/machine/include/ccimx6ul.inc b/meta-digi-arm/conf/machine/include/ccimx6ul.inc
index 69538f9a0..a6922bfcc 100644
--- a/meta-digi-arm/conf/machine/include/ccimx6ul.inc
+++ b/meta-digi-arm/conf/machine/include/ccimx6ul.inc
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ include conf/machine/include/imx-digi-base.inc
 include conf/machine/include/arm/armv7a/tune-cortexa7.inc
 
 # Override default init manager from distro config
-INIT_MANAGER ?= "sysvinit"
+INIT_MANAGER:ccimx6ul = "sysvinit"
 
 # Platform u-boot settings
 UBOOT_PREFIX = "u-boot"
diff --git a/meta-digi-dey/conf/distro/dey.conf b/meta-digi-dey/conf/distro/dey.conf
index c9b9b6df7..7a7cf883a 100644
--- a/meta-digi-dey/conf/distro/dey.conf
+++ b/meta-digi-dey/conf/distro/dey.conf
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ SDKPATHINSTALL = "/opt/${DISTRO}/${SDK_VERSION}/${MACHINE}"
 LICENSE_FLAGS_ACCEPTED += "commercial"
 
 # Use systemd init manager by default
-INIT_MANAGER ?= "systemd"
+INIT_MANAGER = "systemd"
 
 # Enable examples for some QT packages
 PACKAGECONFIG:append:class-target:pn-qtbase        = " examples"