diff --git a/tasks/persistent_cloud.yml b/tasks/persistent_cloud.yml
index 076ab93923..f7512d0982 100644
--- a/tasks/persistent_cloud.yml
+++ b/tasks/persistent_cloud.yml
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
   ignore_errors: true
 
 - name: spin it up
-  local_action: ec2 keypair={{ keypair }} image={{ image }} type={{ instance_type }} wait=true group={{ security_group }} ec2_access_key={{ persist_access_key }} ec2_secret_key={{ persist_secret_key }} ec2_url={{ os_ec2_url }} 
+  local_action: ec2 keypair={{ keypair }} image={{ image }} type={{ instance_type }} wait=true group={{ security_group }} ec2_access_key={{ persist_access_key }} ec2_secret_key={{ persist_secret_key }} ec2_url={{ os_ec2_url }} user_data={{ ec2_userdata }}
   register: inst_res
   when: host_is_up|failed
 
diff --git a/vars/global.yml b/vars/global.yml
index d21e76f4a6..40c11788e8 100644
--- a/vars/global.yml
+++ b/vars/global.yml
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ f17_qcow_id: ami-00000001
 f19_qcow_id: ami-00000020
 # Fedora-20-TC4-x86_64
 f20_qcow_id: ami-00000038
+ec2_userdata: ['#cloud-config', 'disable_root: 0']
 global_pkgs_inst: ['bind-utils', 'joe', 'mailx', 'nc', 'openssh-clients', 
                    'patch', 'postfix', 'rsync', 'strace', 'telnet', 
                    'tmpwatch', 'traceroute', 'vim-enhanced', 'xz', 'zsh',