The present disclosure is directed to reducing the secure boot time of software images and includes one or more processors and one or more computer-readable non-transitory storage media coupled to the one or more processors and comprising instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause one or more components to perform operations including identifying a software image for a first secure boot, the software image stored in a persistent storage and comprising a kickstart software package and a system software package, fetching the software image, including the kickstart software package and the system software package, from the persistent storage to a memory, verifying one or more digital signatures associated with the software image, booting the kickstart software package of the software image from the memory, and staging the system software package in the persistent storage.