diff --git a/packaging/flavorgen/flavors/generators.go b/packaging/flavorgen/flavors/generators.go
index c8dfbdf730..7880cfd453 100644
--- a/packaging/flavorgen/flavors/generators.go
+++ b/packaging/flavorgen/flavors/generators.go
@@ -96,7 +96,10 @@ systemd:
         After=containerd.service
         [Service]
         # Make metadata environment variables available for pre-kubeadm commands.
-        EnvironmentFile=/run/metadata/*`
+        EnvironmentFile=/run/metadata/*
+        # Log to file
+        StandardOutput=append:/var/log/kubeadm-service.log
+        StandardError=inherit`
 )
 
 func newClusterTopologyCluster(supervisorMode bool) (clusterv1.Cluster, error) {
diff --git a/templates/cluster-template-ignition.yaml b/templates/cluster-template-ignition.yaml
index 80ae91cab6..ba0c4062f7 100644
--- a/templates/cluster-template-ignition.yaml
+++ b/templates/cluster-template-ignition.yaml
@@ -261,6 +261,9 @@ spec:
                   [Service]
                   # Make metadata environment variables available for pre-kubeadm commands.
                   EnvironmentFile=/run/metadata/*
+                  # Log to file
+                  StandardOutput=append:/var/log/kubeadm-service.log
+                  StandardError=inherit
     initConfiguration:
       nodeRegistration:
         criSocket: /var/run/containerd/containerd.sock
@@ -361,6 +364,9 @@ spec:
                     [Service]
                     # Make metadata environment variables available for pre-kubeadm commands.
                     EnvironmentFile=/run/metadata/*
+                    # Log to file
+                    StandardOutput=append:/var/log/kubeadm-service.log
+                    StandardError=inherit
       joinConfiguration:
         nodeRegistration:
           criSocket: /var/run/containerd/containerd.sock
diff --git a/test/framework/log/collector.go b/test/framework/log/collector.go
index 7d9d4e2e31..d244181efd 100644
--- a/test/framework/log/collector.go
+++ b/test/framework/log/collector.go
@@ -96,6 +96,8 @@ func (c *MachineLogCollector) CollectMachineLog(ctx context.Context, ctrlClient
 			"sudo", "cat", "/var/log/cloud-init.log"),
 		captureLogs("cloud-init-output.log",
 			"sudo", "cat", "/var/log/cloud-init-output.log"),
+		captureLogs("kubeadm-service.log",
+			"sudo", "cat", "/var/log/kubeadm-service.log"),
 	)
 }