diff --git a/src/bios.rs b/src/bios.rs
index b4eaca5d..f97258f9 100644
--- a/src/bios.rs
+++ b/src/bios.rs
@@ -127,16 +127,17 @@ impl Component for Bios {
         })
     }
 
-    fn generate_update_metadata(&self, sysroot_path: &str) -> Result<ContentMetadata> {
+    fn generate_update_metadata(&self, sysroot_path: &str) -> Result<Option<ContentMetadata>> {
         let grub_install = Path::new(sysroot_path).join(GRUB_BIN);
         if !grub_install.exists() {
-            bail!("Failed to find {:?}", grub_install);
+            println!("Failed to find {:?}", grub_install);
+            return Ok(None);
         }
 
         // Query the rpm database and list the package and build times for /usr/sbin/grub2-install
         let meta = packagesystem::query_files(sysroot_path, [&grub_install])?;
         write_update_metadata(sysroot_path, self, &meta)?;
-        Ok(meta)
+        Ok(Some(meta))
     }
 
     fn query_adopt(&self, devices: &Option<Vec<String>>) -> Result<Option<Adoptable>> {
diff --git a/src/bootupd.rs b/src/bootupd.rs
index 4dc10c3e..34516ddf 100644
--- a/src/bootupd.rs
+++ b/src/bootupd.rs
@@ -93,6 +93,15 @@ pub(crate) fn install(
             continue;
         }
 
+        // skip components that don't have an update metadata
+        if component.query_update(&source_root_dir)?.is_none() {
+            println!(
+                "Skip installing component {} without update metadata",
+                component.name()
+            );
+            continue;
+        }
+
         let meta = component
             .install(&source_root, dest_root, device, update_firmware)
             .with_context(|| format!("installing component {}", component.name()))?;
@@ -199,12 +208,18 @@ pub(crate) fn generate_update_metadata(sysroot_path: &str) -> Result<()> {
     std::fs::create_dir_all(&updates_dir)
         .with_context(|| format!("Failed to create updates dir {:?}", &updates_dir))?;
     for component in get_components().values() {
-        let v = component.generate_update_metadata(sysroot_path)?;
-        println!(
-            "Generated update layout for {}: {}",
-            component.name(),
-            v.version,
-        );
+        if let Some(v) = component.generate_update_metadata(sysroot_path)? {
+            println!(
+                "Generated update layout for {}: {}",
+                component.name(),
+                v.version,
+            );
+        } else {
+            println!(
+                "Generating update layout for {} was not possible, skipping.",
+                component.name(),
+            );
+        }
     }
 
     Ok(())
diff --git a/src/component.rs b/src/component.rs
index 8c3ec3cb..5e611590 100644
--- a/src/component.rs
+++ b/src/component.rs
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ pub(crate) trait Component {
     /// this is an `rpm-ostree compose tree` for example.  For a dual-partition
     /// style updater, this would be run as part of a postprocessing step
     /// while the filesystem for the partition is mounted.
-    fn generate_update_metadata(&self, sysroot: &str) -> Result<ContentMetadata>;
+    fn generate_update_metadata(&self, sysroot: &str) -> Result<Option<ContentMetadata>>;
 
     /// Used on the client to query for an update cached in the current booted OS.
     fn query_update(&self, sysroot: &openat::Dir) -> Result<Option<ContentMetadata>>;
diff --git a/src/efi.rs b/src/efi.rs
index 25d6ccd7..bc0fcc9c 100644
--- a/src/efi.rs
+++ b/src/efi.rs
@@ -460,7 +460,7 @@ impl Component for Efi {
         })
     }
 
-    fn generate_update_metadata(&self, sysroot: &str) -> Result<ContentMetadata> {
+    fn generate_update_metadata(&self, sysroot: &str) -> Result<Option<ContentMetadata>> {
         let sysroot_path = Utf8Path::new(sysroot);
 
         // copy EFI files to updates dir from usr/lib/efi
@@ -533,7 +533,7 @@ impl Component for Efi {
         };
 
         write_update_metadata(sysroot, self, &meta)?;
-        Ok(meta)
+        Ok(Some(meta))
     }
 
     fn query_update(&self, sysroot: &openat::Dir) -> Result<Option<ContentMetadata>> {