diff --git a/elements/redhat-common/pre-install.d/15-remove-grub b/elements/redhat-common/pre-install.d/15-remove-grub
index 81c58912..21ab6815 100755
--- a/elements/redhat-common/pre-install.d/15-remove-grub
+++ b/elements/redhat-common/pre-install.d/15-remove-grub
@@ -5,35 +5,17 @@ fi
 set -eu
 set -o pipefail
 
-GRUBNAME=$(which grub-install) || echo "trying grub2-install"
-if [ -z "$GRUBNAME" ]; then
-    GRUBNAME=$(which grub2-install)
-fi
-if [ -z "$GRUBNAME" ] || [ $($GRUBNAME --version | grep -c "0.97") -ne 0 ]; then
-    echo "No GRUB2 found. No need to remove"
+# grub2 isn't available on rhel6/centos6; they are setup to use
+# extlinux.  skip this
+# you would think we could match on $DISTRO or something else; but
+# we can't because the rhel/centos elements are a bit mixed up;
+# centos-minimal for example sets distro to "centos".  so the best
+# check is just for the original "grub-install" script
+if [ -f /sbin/grub-install ]; then
     exit 0
-else
-# Must manually remove grub2 here, otherwise the download below does not work.
-    yum remove -y grub2
 fi
 
-# Remove all old versions of grub2 from the yum cache and then ensure the
-# latest version is in the cache.
-basearch=$(cat /etc/yum/vars/basearch)
-find /tmp/yum/$basearch -regex ".*/grub2-[0-9].*\.rpm" -exec rm -f {} +
-install-packages -d grub2
-
-# Copy grub2 rpm out of mounted yum cache for install during finalise
-mkdir -p /tmp/grub
-cp $(find /tmp/yum/$basearch -regex ".*/grub2-[0-9].*\.rpm") /tmp/grub
+# download the latest grub2 package and setup the install script which
+# will be called later by vm/finalise.d/51-bootloader
+install-packages -d /tmp/grub grub2
 echo "rpm -i /tmp/grub/*.rpm" > /tmp/grub/install
-
-#GRUB_CFG=/boot/grub2/grub.cfg
-
-#[ -f "$GRUB_CFG" ]
-
-# Update the config to have the search UUID of the image being built.
-# When partition staging is moved to a separate stage, this will need to happen
-# there. This generates a non-UUID config, which is irrelevant for booting with
-# hypervisor kernel + ramdisk, and fixed up by 51-grub for vm images.
-#GRUB_DISABLE_LINUX_UUID=true grub2-mkconfig -o $GRUB_CFG
diff --git a/elements/yum/bin/install-packages b/elements/yum/bin/install-packages
index 25c77aef..90b28f86 100755
--- a/elements/yum/bin/install-packages
+++ b/elements/yum/bin/install-packages
@@ -33,27 +33,37 @@ function show_options () {
     echo
     echo "Options:"
     echo "    -u          -- update all packages"
-    echo "    -d          -- download the packages only"
+    echo "    -d dir      -- download the packages to directory"
     echo "    -e          -- erase/remove packages"
-    echo "    -m          -- use custom element package map (Example: -m nova)"
+    echo "    -m map      -- use custom element package map (Example: -m nova)"
     exit 0
 }
 
-TEMP=$(getopt -o hudem: -n $SCRIPTNAME -- "$@")
-if [ $? != 0 ] ; then echo "Terminating..." >&2 ; exit 1 ; fi
-eval set -- "$TEMP"
-
-while true ; do
-    case "$1" in
-        -u) ${YUM} -y update; exit 0;;
-        -d) EXTRA_ARGS="--downloadonly"; shift;;
-        -e) ACTION="erase"; shift;;
-        -m) MAP_ELEMENT=$2; shift 2;;
-        -h) show_options;;
-        --) shift; break ;;
-        *) echo "Error: unsupported option $1."; exit 1;;
+while getopts "hud:em:" opt; do
+    case "$opt" in
+        u)
+            ${YUM} -y update;
+            exit 0
+            ;;
+        d)
+            ACTION="download"
+            DOWNLOAD_PATH=$OPTARG
+            ;;
+        e)
+            ACTION="erase"
+            ;;
+        m)
+            MAP_ELEMENT=$OPTARG
+            ;;
+        h)
+            show_options
+            ;;
+        *)
+            exit 1
+            ;;
     esac
 done
+shift $((OPTIND-1))
 
 
 # Packages that aren't available in the distro but requested for installation
@@ -87,15 +97,39 @@ if [ -n "$WHITELIST" ]; then
     else
         PKGS=$(map-packages $WHITELIST)
     fi
+
     if [ -z "${PKGS}" ]; then
         echo "Not running install-packages $ACTION with empty packages list"
-    else
-        echo "Running install-packages ${ACTION}. Package list: $PKGS"
-        ${YUM} -v -y $ACTION $EXTRA_ARGS $PKGS
-        for pkg in "$@"; do
-            if [ "$pkg" = "python-pip" ] ; then
-                alternatives --install /usr/bin/pip pip /usr/bin/pip-python 10
-            fi
-        done
+        exit 0
     fi
+
+    echo "Running install-packages ${ACTION}. Package list: $PKGS"
+
+    if [ "$ACTION" == "download" ]; then
+        mkdir -p $DOWNLOAD_PATH
+        if [ ${YUM} == "dnf" ]; then
+            dnf download --destdir=$DOWNLOAD_PATH $PKGS
+        else
+            # note; you don't want to use yum --download only here.
+            # Firstly that only puts things in the yum cache
+            # directory, and secondly it acts funny if old versions
+            # are already in the cache.
+            if [ ! -f /usr/bin/yumdownloader ]; then
+                yum install -y yum-utils
+            fi
+            yumdownloader --destdir=$DOWNLOAD_PATH $PKGS
+        fi
+        exit 0
+    fi
+
+    ${YUM} -v -y $ACTION $EXTRA_ARGS $PKGS
+
+    # probably not the right place for this; but python-pip package on
+    # fedora/rh calls pip "pip-python" while the rest of the work
+    # expects it to be just called "pip"
+    for pkg in "$@"; do
+        if [ "$pkg" = "python-pip" ] ; then
+            alternatives --install /usr/bin/pip pip /usr/bin/pip-python 10
+        fi
+    done
 fi