diff --git a/manifests/ec2-ebs-debian-official-i386-pvm.manifest.json b/manifests/ec2-ebs-debian-official-i386-pvm.manifest.json
index 9226074..a3836ea 100644
--- a/manifests/ec2-ebs-debian-official-i386-pvm.manifest.json
+++ b/manifests/ec2-ebs-debian-official-i386-pvm.manifest.json
@@ -43,10 +43,8 @@
 				{ "name": "cloud-init", "target": "{release}-backports" }
 			]
 		},
-		"sed": {
-			"file": "etc/cloud/cloud.cfg",
-			"find": "^     name: debian$",
-			"replace": "     name: admin\n     sudo: ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL\n     shell: /bin/bash"
+		"cloud_init": {
+			"username": "admin"
 		}
 	}
 }
diff --git a/manifests/ec2-ebs-debian-official.manifest.json b/manifests/ec2-ebs-debian-official.manifest.json
index 78515b6..14cd563 100644
--- a/manifests/ec2-ebs-debian-official.manifest.json
+++ b/manifests/ec2-ebs-debian-official.manifest.json
@@ -43,10 +43,8 @@
 				{ "name": "cloud-init", "target": "{release}-backports" }
 			]
 		},
-		"sed": {
-			"file": "etc/cloud/cloud.cfg",
-			"find": "^     name: debian$",
-			"replace": "     name: admin\n     sudo: ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL\n     shell: /bin/bash"
+		"cloud_init": {
+			"username": "admin"
 		}
 	}
 }
diff --git a/manifests/ec2-ebs.manifest.json b/manifests/ec2-ebs-single.manifest.json
similarity index 100%
rename from manifests/ec2-ebs.manifest.json
rename to manifests/ec2-ebs-single.manifest.json
diff --git a/plugins/cloud_init/__init__.py b/plugins/cloud_init/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c058ec7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plugins/cloud_init/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+
+
+def validate_manifest(data, schema_validate):
+	from os import path
+	schema_path = path.normpath(path.join(path.dirname(__file__), 'manifest-schema.json'))
+	schema_validate(data, schema_path)
+	packages = data['plugins']['packages']
+	cloud_init_installed = False
+	if 'remote' in packages:
+		for package in packages['remote']:
+			if isinstance(package, basestring):
+				name = package
+			else:
+				name = package['name']
+			if name == 'cloud-init':
+				cloud_init_installed = True
+				break
+	if not cloud_init_installed:
+		from common.exceptions import ManifestError
+		raise ManifestError('The cloud-init package must be installed for the cloud_init plugin to work')
+
+
+def tasks(tasklist, manifest):
+	from tasks import SetUsername
+	from providers.ec2.tasks.initd import AddEC2InitScripts
+	from common.tasks import initd
+	tasklist.add(SetUsername)
+	tasklist.remove(AddEC2InitScripts,
+	                initd.AddExpandRoot,
+	                initd.AdjustExpandRootScript,
+	                initd.AddSSHKeyGeneration)
diff --git a/plugins/cloud_init/manifest-schema.json b/plugins/cloud_init/manifest-schema.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..599855c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plugins/cloud_init/manifest-schema.json
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+{
+	"$schema": "http://json-schema.org/draft-04/schema#",
+	"title": "cloud-init plugin manifest",
+	"type": "object",
+	"properties": {
+		"plugins": {
+			"type": "object",
+			"properties": {
+				"cloud_init": {
+					"type": "object",
+					"properties": {
+						"username": {
+							"type": "string"
+						}
+					},
+					"required": ["username"]
+				},
+				"packages":   {"type": "object"}
+			},
+			"required": ["cloud_init", "packages"]
+		}
+	}
+}
diff --git a/plugins/cloud_init/tasks.py b/plugins/cloud_init/tasks.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..37883f2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plugins/cloud_init/tasks.py
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+from base import Task
+from common import phases
+from plugins.packages.tasks import InstallRemotePackages
+
+
+class SetUsername(Task):
+	description = 'Setting username in cloud.cfg'
+	phase = phases.system_modification
+	predecessors = [InstallRemotePackages]
+
+	def run(self, info):
+		from common.tools import sed_i
+		import os.path
+		cloud_cfg = os.path.join(info.root, 'etc/cloud/cloud.cfg')
+		username = info.manifest.plugins['cloud_init']['username']
+		search = '^     name: debian$'
+		replace = ('     name: {username}\n'
+		           '     sudo: ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL\n'
+		           '     shell: /bin/bash').format(username=username)
+		sed_i(cloud_cfg, search, replace)
diff --git a/plugins/sed/__init__.py b/plugins/sed/__init__.py
deleted file mode 100644
index c754084..0000000
--- a/plugins/sed/__init__.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,10 +0,0 @@
-
-
-def tasks(tasklist, manifest):
-	import tasks
-	tasklist.add(tasks.DoSeds)
-
-def validate_manifest(data, schema_validate):
-	from os import path
-	schema_path = path.normpath(path.join(path.dirname(__file__), 'manifest-schema.json'))
-	schema_validate(data, schema_path)
diff --git a/plugins/sed/manifest-schema.json b/plugins/sed/manifest-schema.json
deleted file mode 100644
index df71755..0000000
--- a/plugins/sed/manifest-schema.json
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,28 +0,0 @@
-{
-	"$schema": "http://json-schema.org/draft-04/schema#",
-	"title": "Backports setup and package install",
-	"type": "object",
-	"properties": {
-		"plugins": {
-			"type": "object",
-			"properties": {
-				"sed": {
-					"type": "object",
-					"properties": {
-						"file": {
-							"type": "string"
-						},
-						"find": {
-							"type": "string"
-						},
-						"replace": {
-							"type": "string"
-						}
-					}
-				}
-			},
-			"required": ["sed"]
-		}
-	},
-	"required": ["plugins"]
-}
diff --git a/plugins/sed/tasks.py b/plugins/sed/tasks.py
deleted file mode 100644
index e71618e..0000000
--- a/plugins/sed/tasks.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,15 +0,0 @@
-from base import Task
-from common import phases
-from common.tasks.apt import AptUpgrade
-from common.tools import sed_i
-import os
-
-
-class DoSeds(Task):
-	description = 'Sedding files'
-	phase = phases.system_modification
-	predecessors = [AptUpgrade]
-
-	def run(self, info):
-		chroot_path = os.path.join(info.root, info.manifest.plugins['sed']['file'])
-		sed_i(chroot_path, info.manifest.plugins['sed']['find'], info.manifest.plugins['sed']['replace'])