diff --git a/buildserver/Vagrantfile b/buildserver/Vagrantfile
index 2a170bdf..3b65e61a 100644
--- a/buildserver/Vagrantfile
+++ b/buildserver/Vagrantfile
@@ -19,10 +19,7 @@ Vagrant.configure("2") do |config|
     config.cache.enable :chef
   end
 
-  config.vm.box = configfile['basebox']
-  if configfile.has_key? "basebox_version"
-    config.vm.box_version = configfile['basebox_version']
-  end
+  config.vm.box = "fdroid/bullseye64"
 
   if not configfile.has_key? "vm_provider" or configfile["vm_provider"] == "virtualbox"
     # default to VirtualBox if not set
diff --git a/examples/makebuildserver.config.py b/examples/makebuildserver.config.py
index ff668a63..96e0c9ec 100644
--- a/examples/makebuildserver.config.py
+++ b/examples/makebuildserver.config.py
@@ -2,29 +2,6 @@
 #
 # You may want to alter these before running ./makebuildserver
 
-# Name of the Vagrant basebox to use, by default it will be downloaded
-# from Vagrant Cloud.  For release builds setup, generate the basebox
-# locally using https://gitlab.com/fdroid/basebox, add it to Vagrant,
-# then set this to the local basebox name.
-# This defaults to "fdroid/basebox-stretch64" which will download a
-# prebuilt basebox from https://app.vagrantup.com/fdroid.
-#
-# (If you change this value you have to supply the `--clean` option on
-#  your next `makebuildserver` run.)
-#
-# basebox = "basebox-stretch64"
-
-# This allows you to pin your basebox to a specific versions. It defaults
-# the most recent basebox version which can be aumotaically verifyed by
-# `makebuildserver`.
-# Please note that vagrant does not support versioning of locally added
-# boxes, so we can't support that either.
-#
-# (If you change this value you have to supply the `--clean` option on
-#  your next `makebuildserver` run.)
-#
-# basebox_version = "0.1"
-
 # In the process of setting up the build server, many gigs of files
 # are downloaded (Android SDK components, gradle, etc).  These are
 # cached so that they are not redownloaded each time. By default,
diff --git a/makebuildserver b/makebuildserver
index b90e8ba9..9d18c954 100755
--- a/makebuildserver
+++ b/makebuildserver
@@ -24,6 +24,8 @@ parser.add_option('-v', '--verbose', action="count", dest='verbosity', default=1
 parser.add_option('-q', action='store_const', const=0, dest='verbosity')
 parser.add_option("-c", "--clean", action="store_true", default=False,
                   help="Build from scratch, rather than attempting to update the existing server")
+parser.add_option('--skip-box-verification', action="store_true", default=False,
+                  help="""Skip verifying the downloaded base box.""")
 parser.add_option('--skip-cache-update', action="store_true", default=False,
                   help="""Skip downloading and checking cache."""
                        """This assumes that the cache is already downloaded completely.""")
@@ -77,7 +79,6 @@ BASEBOX_CHECKSUMS = {
 }
 
 config = {
-    'basebox': BASEBOX_DEFAULT,
     'debian_mirror': 'https://deb.debian.org/debian/',
     'boot_timeout': 600,
     'cachedir': os.path.join(os.getenv('HOME'), '.cache', 'fdroidserver'),
@@ -87,6 +88,13 @@ config = {
     'vm_provider': 'virtualbox',
 }
 
+with open('buildserver/Vagrantfile') as fp:
+    m = re.search(r"""\.vm\.box\s*=\s*["'](.*)["']""", fp.read())
+    if not m:
+        logging.error('Cannot find box name in buildserver/Vagrantfile!')
+        exit(1)
+    config['basebox'] = m.group(1)
+config['basebox_version'] = BASEBOX_VERSION_DEFAULT
 # load config file, if present
 if os.path.exists('makebuildserver.config.py'):
     exec(compile(open('makebuildserver.config.py').read(), 'makebuildserver.config.py', 'exec'), config)
@@ -96,14 +104,6 @@ elif os.path.exists('makebs.config.py'):
 if '__builtins__' in config:
     del config['__builtins__']  # added by compile/exec
 logging.debug("makebuildserver.config.py parsed -> %s", json.dumps(config, indent=4, sort_keys=True))
-if config['basebox'] == BASEBOX_DEFAULT and 'basebox_version' not in config:
-    config['basebox_version'] = BASEBOX_VERSION_DEFAULT
-# note: vagrant allows putting '/' into the name of a local box,
-# so this check is not completely reliable, but better than nothing
-if 'basebox_version' in config and 'basebox' in config and '/' not in config['basebox']:
-    logging.critical("Can not get version '{version}' for basebox '{box}', "
-                     "vagrant does not support versioning for locally added boxes."
-                     .format(box=config['basebox'], version=config['basebox_version']))
 
 # Update cached files.
 if not os.path.exists(config['cachedir']):
@@ -312,27 +312,15 @@ def main():
                          "virtualbox, libvirt)"
                          .format(vm_provider=config['cm_provider']))
         sys.exit(1)
-    # Check if selected Vagrant box is available
-    available_boxes_by_provider = [x.name for x in v.box_list() if x.provider == config['vm_provider']]
-    if '/' not in config['basebox'] and config['basebox'] not in available_boxes_by_provider:
-        logging.critical("Vagrant box '{basebox}' not available "
-                         "for '{vm_provider}' VM provider. "
-                         "Please make sure it's added to vagrant. "
-                         "(If you need a basebox to begin with, "
-                         "here is how we're bootstrapping it: "
-                         "https://gitlab.com/fdroid/basebox)"
-                         .format(vm_provider=config['vm_provider'],
-                                 basebox=config['basebox']))
-        sys.exit(1)
 
     # Download and verify pre-built Vagrant boxes
-    if config['basebox'] == BASEBOX_DEFAULT:
+    if not options.skip_box_verification:
         buildserver_not_created = any([True for x in v.status() if x.state == 'not_created' and x.name == 'default'])
         if buildserver_not_created or options.clean:
             # make vagrant download and add basebox
-            target_basebox_installed = any([x for x in v.box_list() if x.name == BASEBOX_DEFAULT and x.provider == config['vm_provider'] and x.version == config['basebox_version']])
+            target_basebox_installed = any([x for x in v.box_list() if x.name == config['basebox'] and x.provider == config['vm_provider'] and x.version == config['basebox_version']])
             if not target_basebox_installed:
-                cmd = [shutil.which('vagrant'), 'box', 'add', BASEBOX_DEFAULT,
+                cmd = [shutil.which('vagrant'), 'box', 'add', config['basebox'],
                        '--box-version=' + config['basebox_version'],
                        '--provider=' + config['vm_provider']]
                 ret_val = subprocess.call(cmd)
@@ -353,7 +341,7 @@ def main():
             for filename, sha256 in BASEBOX_CHECKSUMS[config['basebox_version']][config['vm_provider']].items():
                 verify_file_sha256(os.path.join(get_vagrant_home(),
                                                 'boxes',
-                                                BASEBOX_DEFAULT.replace('/', '-VAGRANTSLASH-'),
+                                                config['basebox'].replace('/', '-VAGRANTSLASH-'),
                                                 config['basebox_version'],
                                                 config['vm_provider'],
                                                 filename),