diff --git a/sys/kern/init_main.c b/sys/kern/init_main.c
index d6976890e3c..b86ea915937 100644
--- a/sys/kern/init_main.c
+++ b/sys/kern/init_main.c
@@ -180,6 +180,9 @@ mi_startup(void)
 	int verbose;
 #endif
 
+	if (boothowto & RB_VERBOSE)
+		bootverbose++;
+
 	if (sysinit == NULL) {
 		sysinit = SET_BEGIN(sysinit_set);
 		sysinit_end = SET_LIMIT(sysinit_set);
@@ -327,15 +330,6 @@ SYSINIT(diagwarn2, SI_SUB_RUN_SCHEDULER, SI_ORDER_THIRD + 2,
     print_caddr_t, diag_warn);
 #endif
 
-static void
-set_boot_verbose(void *data __unused)
-{
-
-	if (boothowto & RB_VERBOSE)
-		bootverbose++;
-}
-SYSINIT(boot_verbose, SI_SUB_TUNABLES, SI_ORDER_ANY, set_boot_verbose, NULL);
-
 static int
 null_fetch_syscall_args(struct thread *td __unused,
     struct syscall_args *sa __unused)