diff --git a/kernel/configs/fragments/common/virtio.conf b/kernel/configs/fragments/common/virtio.conf
index 0f033c90be..592ef458b9 100644
--- a/kernel/configs/fragments/common/virtio.conf
+++ b/kernel/configs/fragments/common/virtio.conf
@@ -15,6 +15,9 @@ CONFIG_VIRTIO_PCI_LEGACY=y
 CONFIG_HW_RANDOM=y
 CONFIG_HW_RANDOM_VIRTIO=y
 
+# This is required for booting from pmem
+CONFIG_VIRTIO_PMEM=y
+
 # FIXME - are we moving away from/choosing between SCSI and BLK support?
 # https://github.com/kata-containers/packaging/issues/483
 CONFIG_SCSI=y
diff --git a/kernel/kata_config_version b/kernel/kata_config_version
index ea70ce0134..d69c74c8b9 100644
--- a/kernel/kata_config_version
+++ b/kernel/kata_config_version
@@ -1 +1 @@
-72
+73