diff --git a/.github/actions/test/integration/build/action.yml b/.github/actions/test/integration/build/action.yml
index b324d34e..eca53a32 100644
--- a/.github/actions/test/integration/build/action.yml
+++ b/.github/actions/test/integration/build/action.yml
@@ -99,14 +99,21 @@ runs:
         chmod 600 /opt/ssh_host_ed25519_key
         SSH_KEY=$(cat /opt/ssh_host_ed25519_key.pub)
         echo "SSH_KEY=$SSH_KEY" >> $GITHUB_ENV
-        sed -i "s|SSH_KEY_GOES_HERE|$SSH_KEY|g" ./.github/actions/test/integration/build/dev-user-butane.yaml
+        cp ./.github/actions/test/integration/build/dev-user-butane.yaml ./.github/actions/test/integration/build/dev-user-butane-hv1.yaml
+        yq '.storage.files += load("./.github/actions/test/integration/build/root-hints.yaml")' ./.github/actions/test/integration/build/dev-user-butane.yaml > ./.github/actions/test/integration/build/dev-user-butane-hv2.yaml
+
+        sed -i "s|SSH_KEY_GOES_HERE|$SSH_KEY|g" ./.github/actions/test/integration/build/dev-user-butane-hv1.yaml
+        sed -i "s|SSH_KEY_GOES_HERE|$SSH_KEY|g" ./.github/actions/test/integration/build/dev-user-butane-hv2.yaml
 
         PASSWORD=$(openssl passwd "password")
         echo "PASSWORD=$PASSWORD" >> $GITHUB_ENV
-        sed -i "s|PASSWORD_GOES_HERE|$PASSWORD|g" ./.github/actions/test/integration/build/dev-user-butane.yaml
-        sed -i "s|TAG_GOES_HERE|${{ inputs.image_tag }}|g" ./.github/actions/test/integration/build/dev-user-butane.yaml
+        sed -i "s|PASSWORD_GOES_HERE|$PASSWORD|g" ./.github/actions/test/integration/build/dev-user-butane-hv1.yaml
+        sed -i "s|PASSWORD_GOES_HERE|$PASSWORD|g" ./.github/actions/test/integration/build/dev-user-butane-hv2.yaml
+        sed -i "s|TAG_GOES_HERE|${{ inputs.image_tag }}|g" ./.github/actions/test/integration/build/dev-user-butane-hv1.yaml
+        sed -i "s|TAG_GOES_HERE|${{ inputs.image_tag }}|g" ./.github/actions/test/integration/build/dev-user-butane-hv2.yaml
 
-        butane --pretty --strict ./.github/actions/test/integration/build/dev-user-butane.yaml > "/opt/${TAG}.ign"
+        butane --pretty --strict ./.github/actions/test/integration/build/dev-user-butane-hv1.yaml > "/opt/${TAG}-hv1.ign"
+        butane --pretty --strict ./.github/actions/test/integration/build/dev-user-butane-hv2.yaml > "/opt/${TAG}-hv2.ign"
 
     - name: Download ubuntu cloud image
       shell: bash
diff --git a/.github/actions/test/integration/build/dev-user-butane.yaml b/.github/actions/test/integration/build/dev-user-butane.yaml
index f7a331f1..9eb08a14 100644
--- a/.github/actions/test/integration/build/dev-user-butane.yaml
+++ b/.github/actions/test/integration/build/dev-user-butane.yaml
@@ -37,12 +37,6 @@ storage:
         # custom
         192.168.122.2 hv1
         192.168.122.3 hv2
-  - path: /opt/persist/root-hints.yaml
-    mode: 0644
-    contents:
-      inline: |
-        hints:
-          - size: lt 500G
   # turn off hugepages, not required for this test
   # also SIGNIFICANTLY reduces test runtime
   - path: /opt/persist/hugepages.env
diff --git a/.github/actions/test/integration/build/root-hints.yaml b/.github/actions/test/integration/build/root-hints.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..59159664
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/actions/test/integration/build/root-hints.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+- path: /opt/persist/root-hints.yaml
+  mode: 0644
+  contents:
+    inline: |
+      hints:
+        - size: lt 500G
diff --git a/.github/actions/test/integration/setup/action.yml b/.github/actions/test/integration/setup/action.yml
index 915b282b..1b8b1bea 100644
--- a/.github/actions/test/integration/setup/action.yml
+++ b/.github/actions/test/integration/setup/action.yml
@@ -15,7 +15,8 @@ runs:
     - name: Copy ignition file
       shell: bash
       run: |
-        sudo cp "/opt/${TAG}.ign" /var/lib/libvirt/images/hv.ign
+        sudo cp "/opt/${TAG}-hv1.ign" /var/lib/libvirt/images/HV1.ign
+        sudo cp "/opt/${TAG}-hv2.ign" /var/lib/libvirt/images/HV2.ign
 
     - name: Create HyperVisor 1
       shell: bash
diff --git a/.github/actions/test/integration/setup/hv.xml b/.github/actions/test/integration/setup/hv.xml
index 90ab559f..63341fbf 100644
--- a/.github/actions/test/integration/setup/hv.xml
+++ b/.github/actions/test/integration/setup/hv.xml
@@ -32,6 +32,6 @@
     </devices>
     <qemu:commandline>
         <qemu:arg value='-fw_cfg' />
-        <qemu:arg value='name=opt/com.coreos/config,file=/var/lib/libvirt/images/hv.ign' />
+        <qemu:arg value='name=opt/com.coreos/config,file=/var/lib/libvirt/images/HV_NAME_GOES_HERE.ign' />
     </qemu:commandline>
 </domain>
diff --git a/features/_usi/initrd.include/usr/bin/detect_disk b/features/_usi/initrd.include/usr/bin/detect_disk
index 0a8fb937..d061a300 100755
--- a/features/_usi/initrd.include/usr/bin/detect_disk
+++ b/features/_usi/initrd.include/usr/bin/detect_disk
@@ -4,10 +4,6 @@ set -Eeuo pipefail
 
 ROOT_HINTS_FILE="/sysroot/opt/persist/root-hints.yaml"
 
-if ! [[ -f $ROOT_HINTS_FILE ]]; then
-	echo "no root-hints.yaml provided, error"
-	exit 1
-fi
 if kname=$(/usr/bin/root-hints $ROOT_HINTS_FILE); then
 	echo "/dev/${kname}"
 else
diff --git a/features/_usi/initrd.include/usr/bin/persist b/features/_usi/initrd.include/usr/bin/persist
index 018dffcd..7a6ad93f 100755
--- a/features/_usi/initrd.include/usr/bin/persist
+++ b/features/_usi/initrd.include/usr/bin/persist
@@ -6,6 +6,11 @@ if ! disk_dev=$(/usr/bin/detect_disk); then
 	exit 1
 fi
 
+if [[ ! -b "$disk_dev" ]]; then
+  echo "Device $disk_dev not found, exiting"
+  exit 1
+fi
+
 # clean up the disk
 sgdisk -Z "$disk_dev"
 sgdisk -o "$disk_dev"
diff --git a/features/_usi/initrd.include/usr/bin/root-hints b/features/_usi/initrd.include/usr/bin/root-hints
index 5186752f..360bac06 100755
--- a/features/_usi/initrd.include/usr/bin/root-hints
+++ b/features/_usi/initrd.include/usr/bin/root-hints
@@ -2,12 +2,17 @@
 
 set -Eeuo pipefail
 
+# setup error trap
+trap 'err "Error occurred at line $LINENO while executing: $BASH_COMMAND"' ERR
+
 function yqroot() {
 	cat "$1" | chroot /sysroot /usr/bin/yq -c '.hints | .[]'
 }
 
 function err() {
 	echo "$@" 1>&2
+
+  lsblk -bOJ | jq
 }
 
 function filter() {
@@ -27,25 +32,94 @@ function filter() {
 	fi
 	if [[ $val =~ ^[0-9]+[KMGT]+$ ]]; then
 		val=$(echo "$val" | numfmt --from=iec)
-		echo "and ${col^^} $op ${val}"
+		echo "${col^^} $op ${val}"
 	else
-		echo "and ${col^^} $op \"${val}\""
+		echo "${col^^} $op \"${val}\""
 	fi
+}
 
+function blockdevicesize() {
+  local kname="$1"
+  lsblk -bOJ | jq --arg kname "$kname" -r '.blockdevices.[] | select(.kname == $kname).size'
 }
 
+udevadm settle
+
 yamlFile="$1"
 
+esp_disk=""
+if [ -e "/dev/disk/by-label/ESP" ]; then
+	esp_partition=$(basename "$(readlink -f /dev/disk/by-label/ESP)")
+  esp_disk=$(basename "$(readlink -f "/sys/class/block/$esp_partition/..")")
+fi
+
+# TODO: likely go rather with device uuid or alike
 #if dev=$(yq -e .dev "$yamlFile" 2> /dev/null); then
 #	echo "$dev"
 #	exit 0
 #fi
 
-flsblk="TYPE eq \"disk\""
-while IFS= read -r r; do
-	f=$(filter "$r")
-	flsblk="$flsblk $f"
-done < <(yqroot "$yamlFile" )
+declare -a flsblk=()
+# check if yaml file exists and is valid, if so, use it to build the filter for lsblk
+if [ -f "$yamlFile" ] && yq -e . "$yamlFile" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+	while IFS= read -r r; do
+		flsblk+=("$(filter "$r")")
+	done < <(yqroot "$yamlFile")
+fi
+
+LSBLK_JSON=""
+
+function join {
+	local SEPARATOR="$1"
+	shift
+	printf "%s${SEPARATOR}" "$@" | sed --unbuffered "s/${SEPARATOR}$//"
+}
+
+# if flsblk contains elements, we join them by 'and' and use the filter with lsblk
+if [ ${#flsblk[@]} -gt 0 ]; then
+	flsfilter=$(join " and " "${flsblk[@]}")
+	echo "Using filter: $flsfilter" 1>&2
+	LSBLK_JSON=$(lsblk --sort size --exclude 1,2,3,4,7,11 --filter "$flsfilter" -OJ)
+else
+	# no hints, hence we choose the smallest disk we find. we exclude ram disk,
+	# floppy, ide, dynamically allocated, loopback and scsi cd-rom devices
+	LSBLK_JSON=$(lsblk --sort size --exclude 1,2,3,4,7,11 -OJ)
+fi
 
-#echo "$flsblk"
-lsblk --filter "$flsblk" --noheadings -o kname
+# from the resulting list of disks we pick the first disk that are writeable
+kname=$(echo "$LSBLK_JSON" | jq -r '[.blockdevices.[]|select(.type? == "disk" and .ro? == false)][0].kname // ""')
+
+# check which disk to use.
+# 1. if kname is empty:
+#    * we check if we have an esp_disk, if so we use it
+#    * otherwise we fail
+# 2. if kname is not empty:
+#    * we check if we have an esp_disk, if not we use
+#    * kname, otherwise we check if they are the same, if not we fail, otherwise we use kname/esp_disk
+if [ -z "$kname" ]; then
+	if [ -z "$esp_disk" ]; then
+		err "No suitable disk found"
+		exit 1
+	fi
+	echo "Warning: No suitable disk found, falling back to ESP disk ${esp_disk}" 1>&2
+	echo "$esp_disk"
+else
+	if [ -z "$esp_disk" ]; then
+		# no esp_disk using kname
+		echo "$kname"
+    exit 0
+	fi
+
+	if [ "$kname" != "$esp_disk" ]; then
+    # check if desvice size are the same
+    err "Error: Found disk ${kname} does not match ESP disk ${esp_disk}." 1>&2
+    kname_size=$(blockdevicesize "$kname")
+    esp_disk_size=$(blockdevicesize "$esp_disk")
+    if [ "$kname_size" != "$esp_disk_size" ]; then
+      err "Error: Found disk ${kname} size ${kname_size} does not match ESP disk ${esp_disk} size ${esp_disk_size}." 1>&2
+      exit 1
+    fi
+	fi
+	# kname == esp_disk or esp_disk has similar size to kname
+	echo "$esp_disk"
+fi