diff --git a/ironic/Chart.yaml b/ironic/Chart.yaml
index 7397b3a3da..02b37605aa 100644
--- a/ironic/Chart.yaml
+++ b/ironic/Chart.yaml
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ apiVersion: v1
 appVersion: v1.0.0
 description: OpenStack-Helm Ironic
 name: ironic
-version: 0.2.19
+version: 0.2.20
 home: https://docs.openstack.org/ironic/latest/
 icon: https://www.openstack.org/themes/openstack/images/project-mascots/Ironic/OpenStack_Project_Ironic_vertical.png
 sources:
diff --git a/ironic/templates/bin/_ironic-conductor-init.sh.tpl b/ironic/templates/bin/_ironic-conductor-init.sh.tpl
index 6555865b57..54b5ad96a0 100644
--- a/ironic/templates/bin/_ironic-conductor-init.sh.tpl
+++ b/ironic/templates/bin/_ironic-conductor-init.sh.tpl
@@ -34,6 +34,13 @@ if [ "x" == "x${PXE_IP}" ]; then
   exit 1
 fi
 
+# ensure the tempdir exists, read it from the config
+ironictmpdir=$(python -c 'from configparser import ConfigParser;cfg = ConfigParser();cfg.read("ironic.conf");print(cfg.get("DEFAULT", "tempdir", fallback=""))')
+if [ -n "${ironictmpdir}" -a ! -d "${ironictmpdir}" ]; then
+  mkdir -p "${ironictmpdir}"
+  chmod 1777 "${ironictmpdir}"
+fi
+
 tee /tmp/pod-shared/conductor-local-ip.conf << EOF
 [DEFAULT]
 
diff --git a/ironic/values.yaml b/ironic/values.yaml
index be58b1279d..8ef63063d0 100644
--- a/ironic/values.yaml
+++ b/ironic/values.yaml
@@ -101,6 +101,9 @@ conf:
   ironic:
     DEFAULT:
       log_config_append: /etc/ironic/logging.conf
+      # conductor may use hardlinks to images for certain boot modes so the default path needs
+      # to be on the same filesystem
+      tempdir: /var/lib/openstack-helm/tmp
     api:
       port: null
     conductor:
diff --git a/releasenotes/notes/ironic.yaml b/releasenotes/notes/ironic.yaml
index 6c26aa115f..dc3679ffdc 100644
--- a/releasenotes/notes/ironic.yaml
+++ b/releasenotes/notes/ironic.yaml
@@ -23,4 +23,5 @@ ironic:
   - 0.2.17 Allow overriding of hostNetwork and hostIPC for Ironic conductor
   - 0.2.18 Use service tokens
   - 0.2.19 Allow extra containers for the conductor
+  - 0.2.20 ensure tempdir is set to a reasonable default
 ...