diff --git a/meta-arm-bsp/conf/machine/a5ds.conf b/meta-arm-bsp/conf/machine/a5ds.conf
index d220423e..136105be 100644
--- a/meta-arm-bsp/conf/machine/a5ds.conf
+++ b/meta-arm-bsp/conf/machine/a5ds.conf
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 
 require conf/machine/include/tune-cortexa5.inc
 
-PREFERRED_PROVIDER_virtual/kernel = "linux-upstream-arm"
+PREFERRED_PROVIDER_virtual/kernel ?= "linux-upstream-arm"
 PREFERRED_VERSION_linux-upstream-arm ?= "5.3%"
 KBUILD_DEFCONFIG = "multi_v7_defconfig"
 
diff --git a/meta-arm-bsp/conf/machine/fvp-common/fvp.inc b/meta-arm-bsp/conf/machine/fvp-common/fvp.inc
index 6bf33f39..a02890dd 100644
--- a/meta-arm-bsp/conf/machine/fvp-common/fvp.inc
+++ b/meta-arm-bsp/conf/machine/fvp-common/fvp.inc
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ DISK_IMG_PARTITION3_CONTENT = ""
 
 SERIAL_CONSOLES = "115200;ttyAMA0"
 
-PREFERRED_PROVIDER_virtual/kernel = "linux-yocto"
+PREFERRED_PROVIDER_virtual/kernel ?= "linux-yocto"
 PREFERRED_VERSION_linux-yocto ?= "4.19%"
 
 EXTRA_IMAGEDEPENDS += "virtual/trusted-firmware-a u-boot"
diff --git a/meta-arm-bsp/conf/machine/gem5-arm64.conf b/meta-arm-bsp/conf/machine/gem5-arm64.conf
index 4775940c..e2f58ad3 100644
--- a/meta-arm-bsp/conf/machine/gem5-arm64.conf
+++ b/meta-arm-bsp/conf/machine/gem5-arm64.conf
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ SERIAL_CONSOLES = "115200;ttyAMA0"
 
 EXTRA_IMAGEDEPENDS += "virtual/gem5-bootloader"
 
-PREFERRED_PROVIDER_virtual/kernel = "linux-yocto"
+PREFERRED_PROVIDER_virtual/kernel ?= "linux-yocto"
 PREFERRED_VERSION_linux-yocto ?= "4.19%"
 
 
diff --git a/meta-arm-bsp/conf/machine/juno.conf b/meta-arm-bsp/conf/machine/juno.conf
index a728d0a9..3b16e6f9 100644
--- a/meta-arm-bsp/conf/machine/juno.conf
+++ b/meta-arm-bsp/conf/machine/juno.conf
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ IMAGE_FSTYPES += "tar.bz2 ext4"
 SERIAL_CONSOLES = "115200;ttyAMA0"
 
 # Use kernel provided by linaro (Contains support for SCMi or HDMI)
-PREFERRED_PROVIDER_virtual/kernel = "linux-linaro-arm"
+PREFERRED_PROVIDER_virtual/kernel ?= "linux-linaro-arm"
 PREFERRED_VERSION_linux-linaro-arm ?= "4.19%"
 
 EXTRA_IMAGEDEPENDS += "virtual/trusted-firmware-a u-boot"