diff --git a/bin/proxmox-boot-tool b/bin/proxmox-boot-tool
index 93760fb..329df42 100755
--- a/bin/proxmox-boot-tool
+++ b/bin/proxmox-boot-tool
@@ -286,6 +286,13 @@ list_kernels() {
 	echo ""
 	echo "Automatically selected kernels:"
 	echo "$boot_kernels"
+
+	pinned_kernel="$(get_first_line "$PINNED_KERNEL_CONF")"
+	if [ -n "$pinned_kernel" ]; then
+		echo ""
+		echo "Pinned kernel:"
+		echo "${pinned_kernel}"
+	fi
 }
 
 usage() {
@@ -296,6 +303,8 @@ usage() {
 	warn "       $0 clean [--dry-run]"
 	warn "       $0 refresh [--hook <name>]"
 	warn "       $0 kernel <add|remove> <kernel-version>"
+	warn "       $0 kernel pin <kernel-version>"
+	warn "       $0 kernel unpin"
 	warn "       $0 kernel list"
 	warn "       $0 status [--quiet]"
 	warn "       $0 help"
@@ -323,6 +332,15 @@ help() {
 	echo "    add/remove pve-kernel with ABI <kernel-version> to list of synced kernels, in addition to automatically selected ones."
 	echo "    NOTE: you need to manually run 'refresh' once you're finished with adding/removing kernels from the list"
 	echo ""
+	echo "USAGE: $0 kernel pin <kernel-version>"
+	echo ""
+	echo "    pin pve-kernel with ABI <kernel-version> as the default entry to be booted."
+	echo "    NOTE: you need to manually run 'refresh' once you're finished with pinning kernels"
+	echo ""
+	echo "USAGE: $0 kernel unpin"
+	echo ""
+	echo "    unpin sets the latest kernel as the default entry (undoes a previous pin)"
+	echo ""
 	echo "USAGE: $0 kernel list"
 	echo ""
 	echo "    list kernel versions currently selected for inclusion on ESPs."
@@ -392,6 +410,28 @@ status() {
 	fi
 }
 
+pin_kernel() {
+	ver="$1"
+
+	if [ -z "$ver" ]; then
+		warn "E: <kernel-version> is mandatory"
+		warn ""
+		exit 1
+	fi
+
+	if [ ! -e "/boot/vmlinuz-$ver" ]; then
+		warn "E: no kernel image found in /boot for '$ver', not setting default."
+		exit 1
+	fi
+	echo "$ver" > "$PINNED_KERNEL_CONF"
+	echo "Set kernel '$ver' $PINNED_KERNEL_CONF. Use the 'refresh' command to update the ESPs."
+}
+
+unpin_kernel() {
+	rm -f "$PINNED_KERNEL_CONF"
+	echo "Removed $PINNED_KERNEL_CONF. Use the 'refresh' command to update the ESPs."
+}
+
 if [ -z "$1" ]; then
     usage
     exit 0
@@ -460,6 +500,14 @@ case "$1" in
 				list_kernels
 				exit 0
 			;;
+			'pin')
+				pin_kernel "$2"
+				exit 0
+			;;
+			'unpin')
+				unpin_kernel "$2"
+				exit 0
+			;;
 			*)
 				warn "E: invalid 'kernel' subcommand '$cmd'."
 				warn ""
diff --git a/proxmox-boot/functions b/proxmox-boot/functions
index 27da363..5a56b74 100755
--- a/proxmox-boot/functions
+++ b/proxmox-boot/functions
@@ -5,11 +5,13 @@ ESP_LIST="/etc/kernel/proxmox-boot-uuids"
 ESPTYPE='c12a7328-f81f-11d2-ba4b-00a0c93ec93b'
 
 MANUAL_KERNEL_LIST="/etc/kernel/pve-efiboot-manual-kernels"
+PINNED_KERNEL_CONF="/etc/kernel/proxmox-boot-pin"
 
 MOUNTROOT="${TMPDIR:-/var/tmp}/espmounts"
 # relative to the ESP mountpoint
 PMX_ESP_DIR="EFI/proxmox"
 PMX_LOADER_CONF="loader/loader.conf"
+GRUB_PIN_SNIPPET="/etc/default/grub.d/proxmox-kernel-pin.cfg"
 
 # adapted from /etc/kernel/postinst.d/apt-auto-removal as present in
 # debian's apt package:
@@ -21,6 +23,7 @@ PMX_LOADER_CONF="loader/loader.conf"
 #  - the second-latest kernel version
 #  - the latest kernel version of each series (e.g. 4.13, 4.15, 5.0) by
 #    marking the meta-packages
+#  - the currently pinned kernel if any
 
 kernel_keep_versions() {
 	eval "$(apt-config shell DPKG Dir::bin::dpkg/f)"
@@ -56,6 +59,8 @@ kernel_keep_versions() {
 		manual_kernels="$(cat "$MANUAL_KERNEL_LIST")"
 	fi
 
+	pinned_kernel="$(get_first_line "$PINNED_KERNEL_CONF")"
+
 	kernels="$(cat <<-EOF
 		$running_version
 		$install_version
@@ -63,6 +68,7 @@ kernel_keep_versions() {
 		$latest_2_versions
 		$series_metapackages
 		$oldseries_latest_kernel
+		$pinned_kernel
 		EOF
 	)"
 
@@ -114,3 +120,34 @@ get_first_line() {
 	done < "${file}"
 	echo "$line"
 }
+
+set_grub_default() {
+	kver="$1"
+
+	if [ -z "${kver}" ]; then
+		rm -f "${GRUB_PIN_SNIPPET}"
+	else
+		# grub menu entry ids contain the internal root-device id (e.g. for zfs the GUID of
+		# the pool printed in hex) as this is independent of the ESP (or grub location)
+		# take it from /boot/grub/grub.cfg
+		root_devid=$(sed -rn "s/.*gnulinux-advanced-(.+)['] \{$/\1/p" \
+			/boot/grub/grub.cfg)
+		entry="gnulinux-advanced-${root_devid}>gnulinux-${kver}-advanced-${root_devid}"
+		echo "GRUB_DEFAULT=\"${entry}\"" > "${GRUB_PIN_SNIPPET}"
+	fi
+}
+
+set_systemd_boot_default() {
+	mountpoint="$1"
+	kver="$2"
+	if [ -z "${kver}" ]; then
+		entry="proxmox-*"
+	else
+		entry="proxmox-${kver}.conf"
+	fi
+
+	# replaces the current default entry, if one exists else append it at the end of the file
+	sed -ri "/^default /{h;s/ .*\$/ ${entry}/};\${x;/^$/{s//default ${entry}/;H};x}" \
+		"${mountpoint}/$PMX_LOADER_CONF"
+
+}
diff --git a/proxmox-boot/zz-proxmox-boot b/proxmox-boot/zz-proxmox-boot
index db73166..7958a5d 100755
--- a/proxmox-boot/zz-proxmox-boot
+++ b/proxmox-boot/zz-proxmox-boot
@@ -90,9 +90,14 @@ update_esp_func() {
 	fi
 	warn "Copying and configuring kernels on ${path}"
 	copy_and_config_kernels "${mountpoint}"
+
+	pinned_kernel=$(get_first_line "${PINNED_KERNEL_CONF}")
+
 	if [ -d /sys/firmware/efi ]; then
+		set_systemd_boot_default "${mountpoint}" "${pinned_kernel}"
 		remove_old_kernels_efi "${mountpoint}"
 	else
+		set_grub_default "${pinned_kernel}"
 		remove_old_kernels_legacy "${mountpoint}"
 		mount --bind "${mountpoint}" "/boot"
 		update-grub