diff --git a/xCAT-server/lib/perl/xCAT/Template.pm b/xCAT-server/lib/perl/xCAT/Template.pm
index 84efc787e..09685e22c 100644
--- a/xCAT-server/lib/perl/xCAT/Template.pm
+++ b/xCAT-server/lib/perl/xCAT/Template.pm
@@ -136,7 +136,7 @@ sub subvars {
         # append preseed directive lines
         while (<PKGLISTFILE>) {
           chomp $_;
-          if (/^\s*#.*/ ){
+          if ((/^\s*#.*/ ) || ( $_ =~ /^-/ )){
             next;
           }
           $pkglist .= " " . $_;
diff --git a/xCAT/postscripts/remoteshell b/xCAT/postscripts/remoteshell
index b5778c9df..dc9c14e22 100755
--- a/xCAT/postscripts/remoteshell
+++ b/xCAT/postscripts/remoteshell
@@ -55,10 +55,13 @@ then
         sed -i '/MaxStartups /'d /etc/ssh/sshd_config
         echo "MaxStartups 1024" >>/etc/ssh/sshd_config
  
-    if [ "$SETUPFORPCM" = "1" ];then
-         sed -i '/PasswordAuthentication /'d /etc/ssh/sshd_config
-         echo "PasswordAuthentication yes" >>/etc/ssh/sshd_config
-
+    if [ "$SETUPFORPCM" = "1" ]; then
+        if [[ $OSVER == sles* ]];then
+            sed -i '/PasswordAuthentication /'d /etc/ssh/sshd_config
+            echo "PasswordAuthentication yes" >>/etc/ssh/sshd_config
+        elif [[ $OSVER == ubuntu* ]];then
+            sed -i 's/^PermitRootLogin.*/PermitRootLogin yes/' /etc/ssh/sshd_config
+        fi
     fi
 fi