diff --git a/tools/osbuilder/image-builder/image_builder.sh b/tools/osbuilder/image-builder/image_builder.sh
index 50264d5146..8772de4eed 100755
--- a/tools/osbuilder/image-builder/image_builder.sh
+++ b/tools/osbuilder/image-builder/image_builder.sh
@@ -201,6 +201,8 @@ build_with_container() {
 		   --env DEBUG="${DEBUG}" \
 		   --env ARCH="${ARCH}" \
 		   --env TARGET_ARCH="${TARGET_ARCH}" \
+		   --env USER="$(id -u)" \
+		   --env GROUP="$(id -g)" \
 		   -v /dev:/dev \
 		   -v "${script_dir}":"/osbuilder" \
 		   -v "${script_dir}/../scripts":"/scripts" \
@@ -609,9 +611,6 @@ set_dax_header() {
 }
 
 main() {
-	[ "$(id -u)" -eq 0 ] || die "$0: must be run as root"
-	[ "$#" -eq 0 ] && usage && return 0
-
 	# variables that can be overwritten by environment variables
 	local agent_bin="${AGENT_BIN:-kata-agent}"
 	local agent_init="${AGENT_INIT:-no}"
@@ -678,6 +677,8 @@ main() {
 	fi
 	# insert at the beginning of the image the MBR + DAX header
 	set_dax_header "${image}" "${img_size}" "${fs_type}" "${nsdax_bin}"
+
+	chown "${USER}:${GROUP}" "${image}"
 }
 
 main "$@"
diff --git a/tools/osbuilder/initrd-builder/initrd_builder.sh b/tools/osbuilder/initrd-builder/initrd_builder.sh
index fb95f6a38c..19b02651bf 100755
--- a/tools/osbuilder/initrd-builder/initrd_builder.sh
+++ b/tools/osbuilder/initrd-builder/initrd_builder.sh
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ OK "init is installed"
 OK "Agent is installed"
 
 # initramfs expects /init
-ln -sf /sbin/init "${ROOTFS}/init"
+sudo ln -sf /sbin/init "${ROOTFS}/init"
 
 info "Creating ${IMAGE_DIR}/${IMAGE_NAME} based on rootfs at ${ROOTFS}"
-( cd "${ROOTFS}" && find . | cpio -H newc -o | gzip -9 ) > "${IMAGE_DIR}"/"${IMAGE_NAME}"
+( cd "${ROOTFS}" && sudo find . | sudo cpio -H newc -o | gzip -9 ) > "${IMAGE_DIR}"/"${IMAGE_NAME}"
diff --git a/tools/packaging/guest-image/build_image.sh b/tools/packaging/guest-image/build_image.sh
index 9ce5065c94..3f576dddc7 100755
--- a/tools/packaging/guest-image/build_image.sh
+++ b/tools/packaging/guest-image/build_image.sh
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ build_initrd() {
 	info "Build initrd"
 	info "initrd os: $os_name"
 	info "initrd os version: $os_version"
-	sudo -E PATH="$PATH" make initrd \
+	make initrd \
 		DISTRO="$os_name" \
 		DEBUG="${DEBUG:-}" \
 		OS_VERSION="${os_version}" \
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ build_image() {
 	info "Build image"
 	info "image os: $os_name"
 	info "image os version: $os_version"
-	sudo -E PATH="${PATH}" make image \
+	make image \
 		DISTRO="${os_name}" \
 		DEBUG="${DEBUG:-}" \
 		USE_DOCKER="1" \