diff --git a/arch/arm/Kconfig b/arch/arm/Kconfig
index 0fb4b218f665..47c1845f0b1b 100644
--- a/arch/arm/Kconfig
+++ b/arch/arm/Kconfig
@@ -1460,6 +1460,9 @@ config USE_OF
 	help
 	  Include support for flattened device tree machine descriptions.
 
+config ARCH_WANT_FLAT_DTB_INSTALL
+	def_bool y
+
 config ATAGS
 	bool "Support for the traditional ATAGS boot data passing"
 	default y
diff --git a/scripts/Makefile.dtbinst b/scripts/Makefile.dtbinst
index 2ab936e4179d..4405d5b67578 100644
--- a/scripts/Makefile.dtbinst
+++ b/scripts/Makefile.dtbinst
@@ -34,6 +34,6 @@ $(dst)/%.dtbo: $(obj)/%.dtbo
 
 PHONY += $(subdirs)
 $(subdirs):
-	$(Q)$(MAKE) $(dtbinst)=$@ dst=$(patsubst $(obj)/%,$(dst)/%,$@)
+	$(Q)$(MAKE) $(dtbinst)=$@ dst=$(if $(CONFIG_ARCH_WANT_FLAT_DTB_INSTALL),$(dst),$(patsubst $(obj)/%,$(dst)/%,$@))
 
 .PHONY: $(PHONY)