diff --git a/xCAT-server/lib/xcat/plugins/packimage.pm b/xCAT-server/lib/xcat/plugins/packimage.pm
index d1db0f297..1b2a7bf99 100644
--- a/xCAT-server/lib/xcat/plugins/packimage.pm
+++ b/xCAT-server/lib/xcat/plugins/packimage.pm
@@ -79,6 +79,8 @@ sub process_request {
     my $excludestr = "find . ";
     while (<$exlist>) {
        chomp $_;
+       s/\s*#.*//;      #-- remove comments 
+       next if /^\s*$/; #-- skip empty lines
        $excludestr .= "'!' -path '".$_."' -a ";
     }
     close($exlist);
diff --git a/xCAT-server/share/xcat/netboot/sles/genimage b/xCAT-server/share/xcat/netboot/sles/genimage
index fb400fda5..53e979dd0 100755
--- a/xCAT-server/share/xcat/netboot/sles/genimage
+++ b/xCAT-server/share/xcat/netboot/sles/genimage
@@ -129,7 +129,9 @@ unless ($onlyinitrd) {
    }
    open($yumconfig,"<","$pkglist");
    while (<$yumconfig>) {
-      chomp;
+      chomp; 
+      s/\s*#.*//;      #-- remove comments 
+      next if /^\s*$/; #-- skip empty lines
       $yumcmd .= $_ . " ";
    }
    close($yumconfig);