diff --git a/airootfs/root/customize_airootfs.sh b/airootfs/root/customize_airootfs.sh
index 583447b..edb0a3f 100755
--- a/airootfs/root/customize_airootfs.sh
+++ b/airootfs/root/customize_airootfs.sh
@@ -59,6 +59,11 @@ systemctl mask ldconfig.service
 /usr/bin/pacman-key --populate
 rm -f /etc/pacman.d/gnupg/*~
 
+# get a list of all packages from sysrescuerepo to exclude them from reinstall by yay-prepare
+mkdir -p /usr/share/sysrescue/lib/
+pacman -Sl sysrescuerepo | sed -e "s/^sysrescuerepo //" \
+   | sed -e "s/\[installed.*\]//" >/usr/share/sysrescue/lib/yay-prepare-exclude
+
 # Cleanup
 # ATTENTION: adapt airootfs/usr/share/sysrescue/bin/yay-prepare when deleting anything that
 # could be required for building packages
diff --git a/airootfs/usr/share/sysrescue/bin/yay-prepare b/airootfs/usr/share/sysrescue/bin/yay-prepare
index c89d06c..f250528 100755
--- a/airootfs/usr/share/sysrescue/bin/yay-prepare
+++ b/airootfs/usr/share/sysrescue/bin/yay-prepare
@@ -54,8 +54,11 @@ for pkgfile in $(find /var/lib/pacman/local -name files -type f) ; do
             exit 1
         fi
         
-        REINSTALL+=($PKGNAME)
-        echo "package $PKGNAME needs to be reinstalled"
+        # exclude some packages from reinstallation, for example ones from the sysrescuerepo
+        if ! grep -q "$PKGNAME" /usr/share/sysrescue/lib/yay-prepare-exclude; then
+            REINSTALL+=($PKGNAME)
+            echo "package $PKGNAME needs to be reinstalled"
+        fi
     fi
 done