diff --git a/autoinstall/user-data b/autoinstall/user-data
index 1f68515..75137d6 100644
--- a/autoinstall/user-data
+++ b/autoinstall/user-data
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 #cloud-config
 autoinstall:
   version: 1
-  interactive-sections: []
 
   # Locale, keyboard, timezone
   locale: en_US.UTF-8
@@ -105,6 +104,8 @@ autoinstall:
 
     # Disable cloud-init on the installed system (no longer needed after autoinstall)
     - curtin in-target --target=/target -- touch /etc/cloud/cloud-init.disabled
+    - curtin in-target --target=/target -- dpkg --configure -a
+    - curtin in-target --target=/target -- apt-get remove -y cloud-init cloud-guest-utils
 
   user-data:
     disable_root: false
diff --git a/build-usb.sh b/build-usb.sh
index 6e4a4af..08c12bd 100755
--- a/build-usb.sh
+++ b/build-usb.sh
@@ -105,14 +105,28 @@ done
 
 # --- Write ISO to USB ---
 echo "[2/6] Writing Ubuntu ISO to $USB_DEV (this may take several minutes)..."
-dd if="$ISO_PATH" of="$USB_DEV" bs=4M status=progress oflag=sync
+
+# Patch ISO to add 'autoinstall' kernel parameter (skips confirmation prompt)
+PATCHED_ISO=$(mktemp /tmp/ubuntu-autoinstall-XXXXXX.iso)
+cp "$ISO_PATH" "$PATCHED_ISO"
+PATCHED_GRUB=$(mktemp /tmp/grub-XXXXXX.cfg)
+xorriso -osirrox on -indev "$ISO_PATH" -extract /boot/grub/grub.cfg "$PATCHED_GRUB" 2>/dev/null
+sed -i 's|linux\t/casper/vmlinuz  ---|linux\t/casper/vmlinuz autoinstall ---|' "$PATCHED_GRUB"
+sed -i 's/^set timeout=30/set timeout=5/' "$PATCHED_GRUB"
+xorriso -indev "$PATCHED_ISO" -outdev "$PATCHED_ISO" \
+    -map "$PATCHED_GRUB" /boot/grub/grub.cfg \
+    -boot_image any replay 2>/dev/null
+echo "    Patched GRUB: added 'autoinstall' kernel param, reduced timeout to 5s"
+
+ISO_SIZE=$(stat -c%s "$PATCHED_ISO")
+dd if="$PATCHED_ISO" of="$USB_DEV" bs=4M status=progress oflag=sync
 sync
+rm -f "$PATCHED_ISO" "$PATCHED_GRUB"
 
 # --- Find the end of the ISO to create CIDATA partition ---
 echo "[3/6] Creating CIDATA partition after ISO data..."
 
 # Get ISO size in bytes and calculate the start sector for the new partition
-ISO_SIZE=$(stat -c%s "$ISO_PATH")
 SECTOR_SIZE=512
 # Start the CIDATA partition 1MB after the ISO ends (alignment)
 START_SECTOR=$(( (ISO_SIZE / SECTOR_SIZE) + 2048 ))