diff --git a/meta/classes/kernel.bbclass b/meta/classes/kernel.bbclass
index 2cbe64e636..fd27832510 100644
--- a/meta/classes/kernel.bbclass
+++ b/meta/classes/kernel.bbclass
@@ -119,7 +119,7 @@ kernel_do_install() {
 	# Support for external module building - create a minimal copy of the
 	# kernel source tree.
 	#
-	kerneldir=${STAGING_KERNEL_DIR}
+	kerneldir=${D}/kernel
 	install -d $kerneldir
 
 	#