diff --git a/xCAT-server/share/xcat/install/pkvm/compute.pkvm3.ppc64le.tmpl b/xCAT-server/share/xcat/install/pkvm/compute.pkvm3.ppc64le.tmpl
index e355c3c33..217b5544d 100644
--- a/xCAT-server/share/xcat/install/pkvm/compute.pkvm3.ppc64le.tmpl
+++ b/xCAT-server/share/xcat/install/pkvm/compute.pkvm3.ppc64le.tmpl
@@ -25,14 +25,25 @@ timezone --utc "#TABLE:site:key=timezone:value#"
 #
 rootpw --iscrypted #CRYPT:passwd:key=system,username=root:password#
 
-#partition / --ondisk=/dev/mapper/ibmpkvm_vg_root-ibmpkvm_lv_root
-part PV.01 --ondisk=/dev/sda
-volgroup ibmpkvm_rootvg PV.01
-#logvol / --vgname=VOLGROUP_NAME --noformat
-#partition / --ondisk=/dev/sda
 #the --devicename must specify right now, but without network command, it can also work, so we delete it.
 #network --bootproto dhcp
 
+
+
+#XCAT_PARTITION_START#
+%include /tmp/partitioning
+#XCAT_PARTITION_END#
+
+%pre
+{
+set -x
+touch "/startpre"
+#add the code to determine the disk to partition here
+#default is /dev/sda
+#INCLUDE:#ENV:XCATROOT#/share/xcat/install/scripts/pre.pkvm3#
+} >>/tmp/prelog 2>&1
+%end
+
 %post
 touch "/startpost"
 
diff --git a/xCAT-server/share/xcat/install/scripts/pre.pkvm3 b/xCAT-server/share/xcat/install/scripts/pre.pkvm3
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..7ddca1fa2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/xCAT-server/share/xcat/install/scripts/pre.pkvm3
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+#find first available block device (sda or vda likely)
+#TODO: pick a likely non-SAN target if possible
+
+shopt -s nullglob
+
+#first take the disk with the MAX WWN numer to be the installdisk
+if [ -z "$instdisk" ]; then
+   disks=$(awk -F' '  '{print $4  }' /proc/partitions |grep -e "sd[a-z]\+$")
+   for disk in $disks; do
+      diskinfo=$(udevadm info --name $disk)
+      diskname=$(IFS= ;echo $diskinfo|grep '\<DEVNAME\>'|cut -d "=" -f2|tr A-Z a-z)
+      devtype=$(IFS= ;echo $diskinfo|grep '\<DEVTYPE\>'|cut -d "=" -f2|tr A-Z a-z)
+      devwwn=$(IFS= ;echo $diskinfo|grep '\<ID_WWN\>'|cut -d "=" -f2|tr A-Z a-z)
+      [  "$devtype" != "disk" ]  && continue
+      diskentry=$diskentry"$diskname $devwwn\n"
+   done
+   instdisk=$(echo -e $diskentry|grep -v "^$"|sort  -k 2 -b -r|cut -d" " -f1|head -n 1)
+fi
+
+#TODO: ondisk detection, /dev/disk/by-id/edd-int13_dev80 for legacy maybe, and no idea about efi.  at least maybe blacklist SAN if mptsas/mpt2sas/megaraid_sas seen...
+if [ -z "$instdisk" ]; then
+	for disk in /dev/sd*[^0-9]; do
+		currdriver=`udevadm info --attribute-walk --name $disk |grep DRIVERS|grep -v '""'|grep -v '"sd"'|head -n 1|sed -e 's/[^"]*"//' -e 's/"//'`
+		case "$currdriver" in 
+		"ata_piix4"|"PMC MaxRAID"|"ahci"|"megaraid_sas") #certainly direct
+			if [ -z "$firstdirectdisk" ]; then firstdirectdisk=$disk; fi #remember first disk as a guess of medium resort
+			;;
+		"mptsas"|"mpt2sas"|"mpt3sas") #*PROBABLY* not SAN, but SAS SAN is possible
+			if [ -z "$probablyfirstdirectdisk" ]; then probablyfirstdirectdisk=$disk; fi #remember first disk as a guess of medium resort
+			;;
+		*)
+			if [ -z "$firstdisk" ]; then firstdisk=$disk; fi #remember first disk as a guess of medium resort
+			;;
+		esac
+	done
+fi
+
+if [ -z "$instdisk" ]; then
+	if [ ! -z "$firstdirectdisk" ]; then 
+		instdisk=$firstdirectdisk 
+	elif [ ! -z "$probablyfirstdirectdisk" ]; then
+		instdisk=$probablyfirstdirectdisk 
+	elif [ ! -z "$firstdisk" ]; then
+		instdisk=$firstdisk 
+	fi
+fi
+# Could not determine the install disk for whatever reason,
+# try the default /dev/sda
+if [ -z "$instdisk" ]; then
+    instdisk="/dev/sda"
+fi
+
+
+
+echo "part PV.01 --ondisk=$instdisk" >> /tmp/partitioning
+echo "volgroup ibmpkvm_rootvg PV.01" >> /tmp/partitioning	
+
+