diff --git a/meta-arm-autonomy/conf/xenguest.conf b/meta-arm-autonomy/conf/xenguest.conf
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..3c18cc56
--- /dev/null
+++ b/meta-arm-autonomy/conf/xenguest.conf
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+# This file will be required by different xenguest recipes to provide
+# common variables, which can be configured in local.conf
+
+# Xenguest image file install location
+XENGUEST_MANAGER_GUEST_DIR ?= "${datadir}/guests/"
diff --git a/meta-arm-autonomy/recipes-core/images/arm-autonomy-host-image-minimal.bb b/meta-arm-autonomy/recipes-core/images/arm-autonomy-host-image-minimal.bb
index 7960a35a..ea5d889a 100644
--- a/meta-arm-autonomy/recipes-core/images/arm-autonomy-host-image-minimal.bb
+++ b/meta-arm-autonomy/recipes-core/images/arm-autonomy-host-image-minimal.bb
@@ -83,6 +83,9 @@ do_image[mcdepends] += "${DO_IMAGE_MCDEPENDS}"
 REQUIRED_DISTRO_FEATURES += 'arm-autonomy-host'
 REQUIRED_DISTRO_FEATURES += 'xen'
 
+# Configurable guest variables
+require conf/xenguest.conf
+
 python __anonymous() {
     import re
     guestfile_pattern = re.compile(r"^([^;]+);")
@@ -133,7 +136,7 @@ python __anonymous() {
 
 python add_extern_guests () {
     # Destination directory on the rootfs
-    guestdir = d.getVar('IMAGE_ROOTFS') + d.getVar('datadir') + '/guests'
+    guestdir = d.getVar('IMAGE_ROOTFS') + d.getVar('XENGUEST_MANAGER_GUEST_DIR')
 
     # Parse SRC_URI for files with ;guestname= parameter
     src_uri = d.getVar('SRC_URI')
diff --git a/meta-arm-autonomy/recipes-extended/xenguest/xenguest-manager.bb b/meta-arm-autonomy/recipes-extended/xenguest/xenguest-manager.bb
index d7b256f4..e7034ca3 100644
--- a/meta-arm-autonomy/recipes-extended/xenguest/xenguest-manager.bb
+++ b/meta-arm-autonomy/recipes-extended/xenguest/xenguest-manager.bb
@@ -29,8 +29,10 @@ S = "${WORKDIR}"
 # parameters
 XENGUEST_MANAGER_VOLUME_DEVICE ?= "/dev/sda2"
 XENGUEST_MANAGER_VOLUME_NAME ?= "vg-xen-$(basename ${XENGUEST_MANAGER_VOLUME_DEVICE})"
-XENGUEST_MANAGER_GUEST_DIR ?= "${datadir}/guests/"
 XENGUEST_MANAGER_LOG_LEVEL ?= "ERROR"
+#XENGUEST_MANAGER_GUEST_DIR set in xenguest.conf
+
+require conf/xenguest.conf
 
 # We add an init script to create and start guests automatically
 # run start script after xen-tools and run stop script before xen-tools