diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 9a7249cd8..1b7e3a317 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -126,4 +126,5 @@ ci-pr:
 
 clean:
 	$(MAKE) -C alpine clean
+	$(MAKE) -C containers clean
 	rm -rf bin disk.img test.log
diff --git a/alpine/Makefile b/alpine/Makefile
index 1c9c20879..e40397e9f 100644
--- a/alpine/Makefile
+++ b/alpine/Makefile
@@ -19,8 +19,6 @@ PAD4_IMAGE=mobylinux/pad4:1edffcbfa13d4795f006d38e871a778ffba03d8a@sha256:1ad269
 
 TAR2INITRD_IMAGE=mobylinux/tar2initrd:d5711601eb5b89de0f052d87365e18388ff3f1b5@sha256:58d377e65845f91400e173ce9fca93462f2f237947eef2b0d2c17bb4f2da5ee8
 
-TARTAR2INITRD_IMAGE=mobylinux/tartar2initrd:d56cde1558e3080e59a32e3cd7c7141baa601811@sha256:e1ad4522ff906d339da5f250b9ef6bffa5a70b4dec7d2cf7f7dbd0447b79352f
-
 GCE_IMAGE=mobylinux/mkimage-gce:83158ebe303a970a3131c3d02ef2ba00ca5e4a14@sha256:51c30fbf946ca9967688a411e7bf69769a22987cd47ad03428491dd1556fcf63
 
 MKIMAGE_BASE=mobylinux/mkimage-base:870f7512498f2ce5feccebe15fb0d03c5c3ebac2@sha256:47d1ed872b6a44f13b61ea80b3eeab4519dc151c7d684a89a53aa26233b4e087
@@ -57,10 +55,8 @@ moby.img: Dockerfile etc usr init
 	docker run --rm --read-only --net=none --log-driver=none --tmpfs /tmp -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock $(MKIMAGE_BASE) $$BUILD | \
 		docker run --rm --read-only --net=none --log-driver=none --tmpfs /tmp -i $(TAR2INITRD_IMAGE) > $@
 
-container.img:
-	$(MAKE) -j -C containers
-	tar cf - $$(find containers -name container.tar) | \
-		docker run --rm --read-only --net=none --log-driver=none --tmpfs /tmp -i $(TARTAR2INITRD_IMAGE) > $@
+../containers/container.img:
+	$(MAKE) -C ../containers
 
 test.img:
 	$(MAKE) -j -C test
@@ -70,7 +66,7 @@ test.img:
 kernel/x86_64/kernel.img:
 	$(MAKE) -C kernel
 
-initrd.img: moby.img kernel/x86_64/kernel.img container.img
+initrd.img: moby.img kernel/x86_64/kernel.img ../containers/container.img
 	cat $^ > $@
 
 initrd-test.img: initrd.img test.img
@@ -99,10 +95,7 @@ endif
 		google/cloud-sdk \
 		gsutil cp -a public-read /gce.img.tar.gz gs://docker-for-gcp-templates/latest/gce.img.tar.gz
 
-common: initrd.img
-	$(MAKE) -C kernel
-	$(MAKE) -j -C packages
-	$(MAKE) -j -C containers
+common: initrd.img kernel/x86_64/vmlinuz64
 
 ami: common
 	tar cf - \
@@ -209,7 +202,6 @@ clean:
 	docker images -q moby-azure:raw2vhd | xargs docker rmi -f || true
 	docker volume rm vhdartifact || true
 	$(MAKE) -C packages clean
-	$(MAKE) -C containers clean
 	$(MAKE) -C test clean
 	$(MAKE) -C kernel clean
 
diff --git a/alpine/containers/Makefile b/alpine/containers/Makefile
deleted file mode 100644
index d83a72eec..000000000
--- a/alpine/containers/Makefile
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,10 +0,0 @@
-DIRS=$(wildcard */)
-.PHONY: clean $(DIRS)
-
-default: $(DIRS)
-
-$(DIRS):
-	$(MAKE) -C $@
-
-clean:
-	for f in $(DIRS); do $(MAKE) -C $$f clean; done
diff --git a/containers/Makefile b/containers/Makefile
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..abb38f494
--- /dev/null
+++ b/containers/Makefile
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+TARTAR2INITRD_IMAGE=mobylinux/tartar2initrd:d56cde1558e3080e59a32e3cd7c7141baa601811@sha256:e1ad4522ff906d339da5f250b9ef6bffa5a70b4dec7d2cf7f7dbd0447b79352f
+
+DIRS=$(wildcard */)
+.PHONY: clean $(DIRS)
+
+default: container.img
+
+$(DIRS):
+	$(MAKE) -C $@
+
+container.img: $(DIRS)
+	tar cf - $$(find . -name container.tar) | \
+		docker run --rm --read-only --net=none --log-driver=none --tmpfs /tmp -i $(TARTAR2INITRD_IMAGE) > $@
+
+clean:
+	for f in $(DIRS); do $(MAKE) -C $$f clean; done
+	rm -f container.img
diff --git a/alpine/containers/binfmt/Makefile b/containers/binfmt/Makefile
similarity index 100%
rename from alpine/containers/binfmt/Makefile
rename to containers/binfmt/Makefile
diff --git a/alpine/containers/rng-tools/Makefile b/containers/rng-tools/Makefile
similarity index 100%
rename from alpine/containers/rng-tools/Makefile
rename to containers/rng-tools/Makefile