diff --git a/common/bootm.c b/common/bootm.c
index 3e48ca1..5ff6683 100644
--- a/common/bootm.c
+++ b/common/bootm.c
@@ -529,6 +529,7 @@
 	struct image_handler *handler;
 	int ret;
 	enum filetype os_type;
+	size_t size;
 
 	if (!bootm_data->os_file) {
 		printf("no image given\n");
@@ -548,7 +549,13 @@
 	data->os_address = bootm_data->os_address;
 	data->os_entry = bootm_data->os_entry;
 
-	os_type = file_name_detect_type(data->os_file);
+	ret = read_file_2(data->os_file, &size, &data->os_header, PAGE_SIZE);
+	if (ret < 0 && ret != -EFBIG)
+		goto err_out;
+	if (size < PAGE_SIZE)
+		goto err_out;
+
+	os_type = file_detect_type(data->os_header, PAGE_SIZE);
 	if ((int)os_type < 0) {
 		printf("could not open %s: %s\n", data->os_file,
 				strerror(-os_type));
@@ -674,6 +681,7 @@
 		of_delete_node(data->of_root_node);
 
 	globalvar_remove("linux.bootargs.bootm.appendroot");
+	free(data->os_header);
 	free(data->os_file);
 	free(data->oftree_file);
 	free(data->initrd_file);
diff --git a/include/bootm.h b/include/bootm.h
index 35c18dc..62951d6 100644
--- a/include/bootm.h
+++ b/include/bootm.h
@@ -81,6 +81,13 @@
 	struct fdt_header *oftree;
 	struct resource *oftree_res;
 
+	/*
+	 * The first PAGE_SIZE bytes of the OS image. Can be used by the image
+	 * handlers to analyze the OS image before actually loading the bulk of
+	 * it.
+	 */
+	void *os_header;
+
 	enum bootm_verify verify;
 	int verbose;
 	int force;