diff --git a/metropolis/node/core/panichandler.go b/metropolis/node/core/panichandler.go
index 3f17ffc..7a6534b 100644
--- a/metropolis/node/core/panichandler.go
+++ b/metropolis/node/core/panichandler.go
@@ -9,7 +9,6 @@
 package main
 
 import (
-	"io"
 	"os"
 	"unsafe"
 
@@ -55,30 +54,13 @@
 	return int32(err)
 }
 
-const runtimeLogPath = "/esp/core_runtime.log"
-
 func initPanicHandler(lt *logtree.LogTree, consoles []console) {
-	rl := lt.MustRawFor("panichandler")
 	l := lt.MustLeveledFor("panichandler")
 
-	runtimeLogFile, err := os.Open(runtimeLogPath)
-	if err != nil && !os.IsNotExist(err) {
-		l.Errorf("Failed to open runtimeLogFile: %v", err)
-	}
-	if err == nil {
-		if _, err := io.Copy(rl, runtimeLogFile); err != nil {
-			l.Errorf("Failed to log old persistent crash: %v", err)
-		}
-		runtimeLogFile.Close()
-		if err := os.Remove(runtimeLogPath); err != nil {
-			l.Errorf("Failed to delete old persistent runtime crash log: %v", err)
-		}
-	}
-
-	// Setup ESP file.
-	fd, err := unix.Open(runtimeLogPath, os.O_CREATE|os.O_WRONLY, 0)
+	// Setup pstore userspace message buffer
+	fd, err := unix.Open("/dev/pmsg0", os.O_WRONLY, 0)
 	if err != nil {
-		l.Errorf("Failed to open core runtime log file: %v", err)
+		l.Errorf("Failed to open pstore userspace device (pstore probably unavailable): %v", err)
 		l.Warningf("Continuing without persistent panic storage.")
 	} else {
 		runtimeFds = append(runtimeFds, fd)
diff --git a/metropolis/node/core/pstore.go b/metropolis/node/core/pstore.go
index 857488a..c8863e5 100644
--- a/metropolis/node/core/pstore.go
+++ b/metropolis/node/core/pstore.go
@@ -23,6 +23,13 @@
 			logger.Warning(line)
 		}
 	}
+	userspaceLines, err := pstore.GetPmsgDump()
+	if err != nil {
+		logger.Errorf("Failed to recover userspace logs from pstore: %v", err)
+	}
+	for _, line := range userspaceLines {
+		logger.Warning(line)
+	}
 	cleanErr := pstore.ClearAll()
 	if cleanErr != nil {
 		logger.Errorf("Failed to clear pstore: %v", err)
diff --git a/metropolis/pkg/pstore/pstore.go b/metropolis/pkg/pstore/pstore.go
index b553c3c..1bfe586 100644
--- a/metropolis/pkg/pstore/pstore.go
+++ b/metropolis/pkg/pstore/pstore.go
@@ -73,6 +73,8 @@
 
 var dmesgFileRegexp = regexp.MustCompile("^dmesg-.*-([0-9]+)")
 
+var pmsgFileRegexp = regexp.MustCompile("^pmsg-.*-([0-9]+)")
+
 type pstoreDmesgFile struct {
 	hdr   pstoreDmesgHeader
 	ctime time.Time
@@ -85,6 +87,32 @@
 	return getKmsgDumpsFromFS(os.DirFS(CanonicalMountPath))
 }
 
+// GetPmsgDump returns lines written into /dev/pmsg0
+func GetPmsgDump() ([]string, error) {
+	var lines []string
+	pstoreEntries, err := os.ReadDir(CanonicalMountPath)
+	if err != nil {
+		return []string{}, fmt.Errorf("failed to list files in pstore: %w", err)
+	}
+	for _, entry := range pstoreEntries {
+		if !pmsgFileRegexp.MatchString(entry.Name()) {
+			continue
+		}
+		f, err := os.Open(filepath.Join(CanonicalMountPath, entry.Name()))
+		if err != nil {
+			return lines, fmt.Errorf("failed to open pstore entry file: %w", err)
+		}
+		// This only closes after all files have been read, but the number of
+		// files is heavily bound by very small amounts of pstore space.
+		defer f.Close()
+		s := bufio.NewScanner(f)
+		for s.Scan() {
+			lines = append(lines, s.Text())
+		}
+	}
+	return lines, nil
+}
+
 // f is injected here for testing
 func getKmsgDumpsFromFS(f fs.FS) ([]KmsgDump, error) {
 	var events []KmsgDump
diff --git a/third_party/linux/external.bzl b/third_party/linux/external.bzl
index e862cb1..84ba704 100644
--- a/third_party/linux/external.bzl
+++ b/third_party/linux/external.bzl
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
         patches = [
             "//third_party/linux/external:0001-block-partition-expose-PARTUUID-through-uevent.patch",
             "//third_party/linux/external:disable-static-ifs.patch",
+            "//third_party/linux/external:enable-pmsg.patch",
         ],
         sha256 = sums[version],
         strip_prefix = "linux-" + version,
diff --git a/third_party/linux/external/enable-pmsg.patch b/third_party/linux/external/enable-pmsg.patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8886d94
--- /dev/null
+++ b/third_party/linux/external/enable-pmsg.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+This enables pstore for userspace messages for the ACPI ERST as well as the
+EFI variable pstore backend, both of which are expected to be used frequently
+with Metropolis. We need that to reliably store panics of core processes
+regardless of the system state. This is not enabled upstream, either because
+pmsg was a later addition to pstore or for concerns of accidentally running
+out of pstore space. We work around the limited space issue by always clearing
+pstore after every boot, so this poses little extra risk to us.
+
+diff --git a/drivers/acpi/apei/erst.c b/drivers/acpi/apei/erst.c
+index bf65e3461531..fe2c331b4b99 100644
+--- a/drivers/acpi/apei/erst.c
++++ b/drivers/acpi/apei/erst.c
+@@ -1022,7 +1022,7 @@ static int erst_clearer(struct pstore_record *record);
+ static struct pstore_info erst_info = {
+ 	.owner		= THIS_MODULE,
+ 	.name		= "erst",
+-	.flags		= PSTORE_FLAGS_DMESG,
++	.flags		= PSTORE_FLAGS_DMESG | PSTORE_FLAGS_PMSG,
+ 	.open		= erst_open_pstore,
+ 	.close		= erst_close_pstore,
+ 	.read		= erst_reader,
+diff --git a/drivers/firmware/efi/efi-pstore.c b/drivers/firmware/efi/efi-pstore.c
+index e7b9ec6f8a86..7570499b46e0 100644
+--- a/drivers/firmware/efi/efi-pstore.c
++++ b/drivers/firmware/efi/efi-pstore.c
+@@ -210,7 +210,7 @@ static int efi_pstore_erase(struct pstore_record *record)
+ static struct pstore_info efi_pstore_info = {
+ 	.owner		= THIS_MODULE,
+ 	.name		= KBUILD_MODNAME,
+-	.flags		= PSTORE_FLAGS_DMESG,
++	.flags		= PSTORE_FLAGS_DMESG | PSTORE_FLAGS_PMSG,
+ 	.open		= efi_pstore_open,
+ 	.close		= efi_pstore_close,
+ 	.read		= efi_pstore_read,
diff --git a/third_party/linux/linux-metropolis.config b/third_party/linux/linux-metropolis.config
index b31a141..830a77b 100644
--- a/third_party/linux/linux-metropolis.config
+++ b/third_party/linux/linux-metropolis.config
@@ -3851,7 +3851,7 @@
 CONFIG_PSTORE_DEFAULT_KMSG_BYTES=10240
 CONFIG_PSTORE_COMPRESS=y
 # CONFIG_PSTORE_CONSOLE is not set
-# CONFIG_PSTORE_PMSG is not set
+CONFIG_PSTORE_PMSG=y
 # CONFIG_PSTORE_FTRACE is not set
 # CONFIG_PSTORE_RAM is not set
 # CONFIG_PSTORE_BLK is not set