diff --git a/cmd/snap-bootstrap/cmd_initramfs_mounts.go b/cmd/snap-bootstrap/cmd_initramfs_mounts.go
index fbafe6b4988..1e4025e4819 100644
--- a/cmd/snap-bootstrap/cmd_initramfs_mounts.go
+++ b/cmd/snap-bootstrap/cmd_initramfs_mounts.go
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ import (
 	"path/filepath"
 	"strings"
 	"syscall"
+	"time"
 
 	"github.com/jessevdk/go-flags"
 
@@ -1213,6 +1214,18 @@ func checkDataAndSavePairing(rootdir string) (bool, error) {
 	return subtle.ConstantTimeCompare(marker1, marker2) == 1, nil
 }
 
+// waitFile waits for the given file/device-node/directory to appear.
+var waitFile = func(path string, wait time.Duration, n int) error {
+	for i := 0; i < n; i++ {
+		if osutil.FileExists(path) {
+			return nil
+		}
+		time.Sleep(wait)
+	}
+
+	return fmt.Errorf("no %v after waiting for %v", path, time.Duration(n)*wait)
+}
+
 // mountNonDataPartitionMatchingKernelDisk will select the partition to mount at
 // dir, using the boot package function FindPartitionUUIDForBootedKernelDisk to
 // determine what partition the booted kernel came from. If which disk the
@@ -1228,6 +1241,18 @@ func mountNonDataPartitionMatchingKernelDisk(dir, fallbacklabel string) error {
 		partSrc = filepath.Join("/dev/disk/by-label", fallbacklabel)
 	}
 
+	// The partition uuid is read from the EFI variables. At this point
+	// the kernel may not have initialized the storage HW yet so poll
+	// here.
+	if !osutil.FileExists(filepath.Join(dirs.GlobalRootDir, partSrc)) {
+		pollWait := 50 * time.Millisecond
+		pollIterations := 1200
+		logger.Noticef("waiting up to %v for %v to appear", time.Duration(pollIterations)*pollWait, partSrc)
+		if err := waitFile(filepath.Join(dirs.GlobalRootDir, partSrc), pollWait, pollIterations); err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("cannot mount source: %v", err)
+		}
+	}
+
 	opts := &systemdMountOptions{
 		// always fsck the partition when we are mounting it, as this is the
 		// first partition we will be mounting, we can't know if anything is
diff --git a/cmd/snap-bootstrap/cmd_initramfs_mounts_test.go b/cmd/snap-bootstrap/cmd_initramfs_mounts_test.go
index 9471ad9e026..c2f0dc23949 100644
--- a/cmd/snap-bootstrap/cmd_initramfs_mounts_test.go
+++ b/cmd/snap-bootstrap/cmd_initramfs_mounts_test.go
@@ -197,6 +197,11 @@ func (s *initramfsMountsSuite) SetUpTest(c *C) {
 	restore = func() { dirs.SetRootDir("") }
 	s.AddCleanup(restore)
 
+	restore = main.MockWaitFile(func(string, time.Duration, int) error {
+		return nil
+	})
+	s.AddCleanup(restore)
+
 	// use a specific time for all the assertions, in the future so that we can
 	// set the timestamp of the model assertion to something newer than now, but
 	// still older than the snap declarations by default
@@ -5932,3 +5937,90 @@ func (s *initramfsMountsSuite) TestInitramfsMountsTryRecoveryHealthCheckFails(c
 	c.Check(rebootCalls, Equals, 1)
 	c.Check(s.logs.String(), testutil.Contains, `try recovery system health check failed: mock failure`)
 }
+
+func (s *initramfsMountsSuite) TestMountNonDataPartitionPolls(c *C) {
+	restore := main.MockPartitionUUIDForBootedKernelDisk("some-uuid")
+	defer restore()
+
+	var waitFile []string
+	var pollWait time.Duration
+	var pollIterations int
+	restore = main.MockWaitFile(func(path string, wait time.Duration, n int) error {
+		waitFile = append(waitFile, path)
+		pollWait = wait
+		pollIterations = n
+		return fmt.Errorf("error")
+	})
+	defer restore()
+
+	n := 0
+	restore = main.MockSystemdMount(func(what, where string, opts *main.SystemdMountOptions) error {
+		n++
+		return nil
+	})
+	defer restore()
+
+	err := main.MountNonDataPartitionMatchingKernelDisk("/some/target", "")
+	c.Check(err, ErrorMatches, "cannot mount source: error")
+	c.Check(n, Equals, 0)
+	c.Check(waitFile, DeepEquals, []string{
+		filepath.Join(dirs.GlobalRootDir, "/dev/disk/by-partuuid/some-uuid"),
+	})
+	c.Check(pollWait, DeepEquals, 50*time.Millisecond)
+	c.Check(pollIterations, DeepEquals, 1200)
+	c.Check(s.logs.String(), Matches, "(?m).* waiting up to 1m0s for /dev/disk/by-partuuid/some-uuid to appear")
+	// there is only a single log msg
+	c.Check(strings.Count(s.logs.String(), "\n"), Equals, 1)
+}
+
+func (s *initramfsMountsSuite) TestMountNonDataPartitionNoPollNoLogMsg(c *C) {
+	restore := main.MockPartitionUUIDForBootedKernelDisk("some-uuid")
+	defer restore()
+
+	n := 0
+	restore = main.MockSystemdMount(func(what, where string, opts *main.SystemdMountOptions) error {
+		n++
+		return nil
+	})
+	defer restore()
+
+	fakedPartSrc := filepath.Join(dirs.GlobalRootDir, "/dev/disk/by-partuuid/some-uuid")
+	err := os.MkdirAll(filepath.Dir(fakedPartSrc), 0755)
+	c.Assert(err, IsNil)
+	err = ioutil.WriteFile(fakedPartSrc, nil, 0644)
+	c.Assert(err, IsNil)
+
+	err = main.MountNonDataPartitionMatchingKernelDisk("some-target", "")
+	c.Check(err, IsNil)
+	c.Check(s.logs.String(), Equals, "")
+	c.Check(n, Equals, 1)
+}
+
+func (s *initramfsMountsSuite) TestWaitFileErr(c *C) {
+	err := main.WaitFile("/dev/does-not-exist", 10*time.Millisecond, 2)
+	c.Check(err, ErrorMatches, "no /dev/does-not-exist after waiting for 20ms")
+}
+
+func (s *initramfsMountsSuite) TestWaitFile(c *C) {
+	existingPartSrc := filepath.Join(c.MkDir(), "does-exist")
+	err := ioutil.WriteFile(existingPartSrc, nil, 0644)
+	c.Assert(err, IsNil)
+
+	err = main.WaitFile(existingPartSrc, 5000*time.Second, 1)
+	c.Check(err, IsNil)
+
+	err = main.WaitFile(existingPartSrc, 1*time.Second, 10000)
+	c.Check(err, IsNil)
+}
+
+func (s *initramfsMountsSuite) TestWaitFileWorksWithFilesAppearingLate(c *C) {
+	eventuallyExists := filepath.Join(c.MkDir(), "eventually-exists")
+	go func() {
+		time.Sleep(40 * time.Millisecond)
+		err := ioutil.WriteFile(eventuallyExists, nil, 0644)
+		c.Assert(err, IsNil)
+	}()
+
+	err := main.WaitFile(eventuallyExists, 5*time.Millisecond, 1000)
+	c.Check(err, IsNil)
+}
diff --git a/cmd/snap-bootstrap/export_test.go b/cmd/snap-bootstrap/export_test.go
index b3f01d3bb80..fb6a6531fd8 100644
--- a/cmd/snap-bootstrap/export_test.go
+++ b/cmd/snap-bootstrap/export_test.go
@@ -32,6 +32,8 @@ var (
 	Parser = parser
 
 	DoSystemdMount = doSystemdMountImpl
+
+	MountNonDataPartitionMatchingKernelDisk = mountNonDataPartitionMatchingKernelDisk
 )
 
 type SystemdMountOptions = systemdMountOptions
@@ -160,3 +162,13 @@ func MockTryRecoverySystemHealthCheck(mock func() error) (restore func()) {
 		tryRecoverySystemHealthCheck = old
 	}
 }
+
+func MockWaitFile(f func(string, time.Duration, int) error) (restore func()) {
+	old := waitFile
+	waitFile = f
+	return func() {
+		waitFile = old
+	}
+}
+
+var WaitFile = waitFile