diff --git a/meta/classes/image-wic.bbclass b/meta/classes/image-wic.bbclass
index 2acfd659f1..ab2e5412de 100644
--- a/meta/classes/image-wic.bbclass
+++ b/meta/classes/image-wic.bbclass
@@ -2,8 +2,8 @@
 # variables from this list is written to <image>.env file
 WICVARS ?= "\
            BBLAYERS IMGDEPLOYDIR DEPLOY_DIR_IMAGE FAKEROOTCMD HDDDIR IMAGE_BASENAME IMAGE_BOOT_FILES \
-           IMAGE_LINK_NAME IMAGE_ROOTFS INITRAMFS_FSTYPES INITRD ISODIR MACHINE_ARCH RECIPE_SYSROOT_NATIVE \
-           ROOTFS_SIZE STAGING_DATADIR STAGING_DIR STAGING_LIBDIR TARGET_SYS"
+           IMAGE_LINK_NAME IMAGE_ROOTFS INITRAMFS_FSTYPES INITRD INITRD_LIVE ISODIR MACHINE_ARCH \
+           RECIPE_SYSROOT_NATIVE ROOTFS_SIZE STAGING_DATADIR STAGING_DIR STAGING_LIBDIR TARGET_SYS"
 
 WKS_FILE ??= "${IMAGE_BASENAME}.${MACHINE}.wks"
 WKS_FILES ?= "${WKS_FILE} ${IMAGE_BASENAME}.wks"
diff --git a/meta/lib/oeqa/selftest/wic.py b/meta/lib/oeqa/selftest/wic.py
index 53631fa595..8eb77aee2a 100644
--- a/meta/lib/oeqa/selftest/wic.py
+++ b/meta/lib/oeqa/selftest/wic.py
@@ -373,7 +373,7 @@ class Wic(oeSelfTest):
         wicvars = set(get_bb_var('WICVARS', image).split())
         # filter out optional variables
         wicvars = wicvars.difference(('HDDDIR', 'IMAGE_BOOT_FILES',
-                                      'INITRD', 'ISODIR'))
+                                      'INITRD', 'INITRD_LIVE', 'ISODIR'))
         with open(path) as envfile:
             content = dict(line.split("=", 1) for line in envfile)
             # test if variables used by wic present in the .env file
diff --git a/scripts/lib/wic/plugins/source/isoimage-isohybrid.py b/scripts/lib/wic/plugins/source/isoimage-isohybrid.py
index a8a5dc0a59..fd251908d2 100644
--- a/scripts/lib/wic/plugins/source/isoimage-isohybrid.py
+++ b/scripts/lib/wic/plugins/source/isoimage-isohybrid.py
@@ -144,7 +144,7 @@ class IsoImagePlugin(SourcePlugin):
         Create path for initramfs image
         """
 
-        initrd = get_bitbake_var("INITRD")
+        initrd = get_bitbake_var("INITRD_LIVE") or get_bitbake_var("INITRD")
         if not initrd:
             initrd_dir = get_bitbake_var("DEPLOY_DIR_IMAGE")
             if not initrd_dir: