diff --git a/boot/mynewt/src/main.c b/boot/mynewt/src/main.c
index a054fa965..f5c7d5f66 100755
--- a/boot/mynewt/src/main.c
+++ b/boot/mynewt/src/main.c
@@ -229,7 +229,7 @@ main(void)
 #endif
 
 #if defined(MCUBOOT_SERIAL) || defined(MCUBOOT_HAVE_LOGGING) || \
-        MYNEWT_VAL(CRYPTO) || MYNEWT_VAL(HASH)
+        MYNEWT_VAL(CRYPTO) || MYNEWT_VAL(HASH) || MYNEWT_VAL(BOOT_MYNEWT_SYSINIT)
     /* initialize uart/crypto without os */
     os_dev_initialize_all(OS_DEV_INIT_PRIMARY);
     os_dev_initialize_all(OS_DEV_INIT_SECONDARY);
diff --git a/boot/mynewt/syscfg.yml b/boot/mynewt/syscfg.yml
index da0cc15c5..b4fdb77e4 100644
--- a/boot/mynewt/syscfg.yml
+++ b/boot/mynewt/syscfg.yml
@@ -31,6 +31,14 @@ syscfg.defs:
     BOOT_PREBOOT:
         description: 'Call boot_preboot() function before booting application'
         value:
+    BOOT_MYNEWT_SYSINIT:
+        description: >
+            When not 0 performs device initialization and calls newt
+            generated sysinit() function.
+            Note: this functionality is implicitly turned on when one of the
+            following settings are not 0:
+            MCUBOOT_SERIAL, MCUBOOT_HAVE_LOGGING, CRYPTO, HASH
+        value: 0
 
 syscfg.vals:
     SYSINIT_CONSTRAIN_INIT: 0