diff --git a/internal/distro/rhel9/images.go b/internal/distro/rhel9/images.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1ee988ca1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/distro/rhel9/images.go
@@ -0,0 +1,151 @@
+package rhel9
+
+import (
+	"math/rand"
+
+	"github.com/osbuild/osbuild-composer/internal/blueprint"
+	"github.com/osbuild/osbuild-composer/internal/distro"
+	"github.com/osbuild/osbuild-composer/internal/image"
+	"github.com/osbuild/osbuild-composer/internal/manifest"
+	"github.com/osbuild/osbuild-composer/internal/osbuild"
+	"github.com/osbuild/osbuild-composer/internal/rpmmd"
+	"github.com/osbuild/osbuild-composer/internal/users"
+	"github.com/osbuild/osbuild-composer/internal/workload"
+)
+
+func osCustomizations(
+	t *imageType,
+	osPackageSet rpmmd.PackageSet,
+	c *blueprint.Customizations) manifest.OSCustomizations {
+
+	imageConfig := t.getDefaultImageConfig()
+
+	osc := manifest.OSCustomizations{}
+
+	if t.bootable || t.rpmOstree {
+		osc.KernelName = c.GetKernel().Name
+
+		var kernelOptions []string
+		if t.kernelOptions != "" {
+			kernelOptions = append(kernelOptions, t.kernelOptions)
+		}
+		if bpKernel := c.GetKernel(); bpKernel.Append != "" {
+			kernelOptions = append(kernelOptions, bpKernel.Append)
+		}
+		osc.KernelOptionsAppend = kernelOptions
+	}
+
+	osc.ExtraBasePackages = osPackageSet.Include
+	osc.ExcludeBasePackages = osPackageSet.Exclude
+	osc.ExtraBaseRepos = osPackageSet.Repositories
+
+	osc.GPGKeyFiles = imageConfig.GPGKeyFiles
+	if imageConfig.ExcludeDocs != nil {
+		osc.ExcludeDocs = *imageConfig.ExcludeDocs
+	}
+
+	if !t.bootISO {
+		// don't put users and groups in the payload of an installer
+		// add them via kickstart instead
+		osc.Groups = users.GroupsFromBP(c.GetGroups())
+		osc.Users = users.UsersFromBP(c.GetUsers())
+	}
+
+	osc.EnabledServices = imageConfig.EnabledServices
+	osc.DisabledServices = imageConfig.DisabledServices
+	if imageConfig.DefaultTarget != nil {
+		osc.DefaultTarget = *imageConfig.DefaultTarget
+	}
+
+	osc.Firewall = c.GetFirewall()
+
+	language, keyboard := c.GetPrimaryLocale()
+	if language != nil {
+		osc.Language = *language
+	} else if imageConfig.Locale != nil {
+		osc.Language = *imageConfig.Locale
+	}
+	if keyboard != nil {
+		osc.Keyboard = keyboard
+	} else if imageConfig.Keyboard != nil {
+		osc.Keyboard = &imageConfig.Keyboard.Keymap
+	}
+
+	if hostname := c.GetHostname(); hostname != nil {
+		osc.Hostname = *hostname
+	}
+
+	timezone, ntpServers := c.GetTimezoneSettings()
+	if timezone != nil {
+		osc.Timezone = *timezone
+	} else if imageConfig.Timezone != nil {
+		osc.Timezone = *imageConfig.Timezone
+	}
+
+	if len(ntpServers) > 0 {
+		osc.NTPServers = ntpServers
+	} else if imageConfig.TimeSynchronization != nil {
+		osc.NTPServers = imageConfig.TimeSynchronization.Timeservers
+	}
+
+	// Relabel the tree, unless the `NoSElinux` flag is explicitly set to `true`
+	if imageConfig.NoSElinux == nil || imageConfig.NoSElinux != nil && !*imageConfig.NoSElinux {
+		osc.SElinux = "targeted"
+	}
+
+	if oscapConfig := c.GetOpenSCAP(); oscapConfig != nil {
+		if t.rpmOstree {
+			panic("unexpected oscap options for ostree image type")
+		}
+		osc.OpenSCAPConfig = osbuild.NewOscapRemediationStageOptions(
+			osbuild.OscapConfig{
+				Datastream: oscapConfig.DataStream,
+				ProfileID:  oscapConfig.ProfileID,
+			},
+		)
+	}
+
+	osc.Grub2Config = imageConfig.Grub2Config
+	osc.Sysconfig = imageConfig.Sysconfig
+	osc.SystemdLogind = imageConfig.SystemdLogind
+	osc.CloudInit = imageConfig.CloudInit
+	osc.Modprobe = imageConfig.Modprobe
+	osc.DracutConf = imageConfig.DracutConf
+	osc.SystemdUnit = imageConfig.SystemdUnit
+	osc.Authselect = imageConfig.Authselect
+	osc.SELinuxConfig = imageConfig.SELinuxConfig
+	osc.Tuned = imageConfig.Tuned
+	osc.Tmpfilesd = imageConfig.Tmpfilesd
+	osc.PamLimitsConf = imageConfig.PamLimitsConf
+	osc.Sysctld = imageConfig.Sysctld
+	osc.DNFConfig = imageConfig.DNFConfig
+	osc.SshdConfig = imageConfig.SshdConfig
+	osc.AuthConfig = imageConfig.Authconfig
+	osc.PwQuality = imageConfig.PwQuality
+
+	return osc
+}
+
+func liveImage(workload workload.Workload,
+	t *imageType,
+	customizations *blueprint.Customizations,
+	options distro.ImageOptions,
+	packageSets map[string]rpmmd.PackageSet,
+	rng *rand.Rand) (image.ImageKind, error) {
+
+	img := image.NewLiveImage()
+	img.Platform = t.platform
+	img.OSCustomizations = osCustomizations(t, packageSets[osPkgsKey], customizations)
+	img.Environment = t.environment
+	img.Workload = workload
+	// TODO: move generation into LiveImage
+	pt, err := t.getPartitionTable(customizations.GetFilesystems(), options, rng)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	img.PartitionTable = pt
+
+	img.Filename = t.Filename()
+
+	return img, nil
+}
diff --git a/internal/distro/rhel9/imagetype.go b/internal/distro/rhel9/imagetype.go
index f8b1f42eb..b2e59e3f9 100644
--- a/internal/distro/rhel9/imagetype.go
+++ b/internal/distro/rhel9/imagetype.go
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/osbuild/osbuild-composer/internal/container"
 	"github.com/osbuild/osbuild-composer/internal/disk"
 	"github.com/osbuild/osbuild-composer/internal/distro"
+	"github.com/osbuild/osbuild-composer/internal/environment"
 	"github.com/osbuild/osbuild-composer/internal/image"
 	"github.com/osbuild/osbuild-composer/internal/manifest"
 	"github.com/osbuild/osbuild-composer/internal/osbuild"
@@ -50,6 +51,7 @@ type packageSetFunc func(t *imageType) rpmmd.PackageSet
 type imageType struct {
 	arch               *architecture
 	platform           platform.Platform
+	environment        environment.Environment
 	name               string
 	nameAliases        []string
 	filename           string
diff --git a/internal/distro/rhel9/pipelines.go b/internal/distro/rhel9/pipelines.go
index 44abc2f9e..c14155806 100644
--- a/internal/distro/rhel9/pipelines.go
+++ b/internal/distro/rhel9/pipelines.go
@@ -17,32 +17,6 @@ import (
 	"github.com/osbuild/osbuild-composer/internal/users"
 )
 
-func qcow2Pipelines(t *imageType, customizations *blueprint.Customizations, options distro.ImageOptions, repos []rpmmd.RepoConfig, packageSetSpecs map[string][]rpmmd.PackageSpec, containers []container.Spec, rng *rand.Rand) ([]osbuild.Pipeline, error) {
-	pipelines := make([]osbuild.Pipeline, 0)
-	pipelines = append(pipelines, *buildPipeline(repos, packageSetSpecs[buildPkgsKey], t.arch.distro.runner.String()))
-
-	partitionTable, err := t.getPartitionTable(customizations.GetFilesystems(), options, rng)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
-	}
-
-	treePipeline, err := osPipeline(t, repos, packageSetSpecs[osPkgsKey], containers, customizations, options, partitionTable)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
-	}
-	pipelines = append(pipelines, *treePipeline)
-
-	diskfile := "disk.img"
-	kernelVer := rpmmd.GetVerStrFromPackageSpecListPanic(packageSetSpecs[osPkgsKey], customizations.GetKernel().Name)
-	imagePipeline := liveImagePipeline(treePipeline.Name, diskfile, partitionTable, t.arch, kernelVer)
-	pipelines = append(pipelines, *imagePipeline)
-
-	qemuPipeline := qemuPipeline(imagePipeline.Name, diskfile, t.filename, osbuild.QEMUFormatQCOW2, osbuild.QCOW2Options{Compat: "1.1"})
-	pipelines = append(pipelines, *qemuPipeline)
-
-	return pipelines, nil
-}
-
 func prependKernelCmdlineStage(pipeline *osbuild.Pipeline, kernelOptions string, pt *disk.PartitionTable) *osbuild.Pipeline {
 	rootFs := pt.FindMountable("/")
 	if rootFs == nil {
diff --git a/internal/distro/rhel9/qcow2.go b/internal/distro/rhel9/qcow2.go
index 91a8b0d01..e2132fe10 100644
--- a/internal/distro/rhel9/qcow2.go
+++ b/internal/distro/rhel9/qcow2.go
@@ -14,11 +14,7 @@ var (
 		mimeType:      "application/x-qemu-disk",
 		kernelOptions: "console=tty0 console=ttyS0,115200n8 no_timer_check net.ifnames=0",
 		packageSets: map[string]packageSetFunc{
-			buildPkgsKey: distroBuildPackageSet,
-			osPkgsKey:    qcow2CommonPackageSet,
-		},
-		packageSetChains: map[string][]string{
-			osPkgsKey: {osPkgsKey, blueprintPkgsKey},
+			osPkgsKey: qcow2CommonPackageSet,
 		},
 		defaultImageConfig: &distro.ImageConfig{
 			DefaultTarget: common.StringToPtr("multi-user.target"),
@@ -37,7 +33,7 @@ var (
 		},
 		bootable:            true,
 		defaultSize:         10 * common.GibiByte,
-		pipelines:           qcow2Pipelines,
+		image:               liveImage,
 		buildPipelines:      []string{"build"},
 		payloadPipelines:    []string{"os", "image", "qcow2"},
 		exports:             []string{"qcow2"},
@@ -49,11 +45,7 @@ var (
 		filename: "disk.qcow2",
 		mimeType: "application/x-qemu-disk",
 		packageSets: map[string]packageSetFunc{
-			buildPkgsKey: distroBuildPackageSet,
-			osPkgsKey:    openstackCommonPackageSet,
-		},
-		packageSetChains: map[string][]string{
-			osPkgsKey: {osPkgsKey, blueprintPkgsKey},
+			osPkgsKey: openstackCommonPackageSet,
 		},
 		defaultImageConfig: &distro.ImageConfig{
 			Locale: common.StringToPtr("en_US.UTF-8"),
@@ -61,7 +53,7 @@ var (
 		kernelOptions:       "ro net.ifnames=0",
 		bootable:            true,
 		defaultSize:         4 * common.GibiByte,
-		pipelines:           openstackPipelines,
+		image:               liveImage,
 		buildPipelines:      []string{"build"},
 		payloadPipelines:    []string{"os", "image", "qcow2"},
 		exports:             []string{"qcow2"},