diff --git a/meta/classes/useradd_base.bbclass b/meta/classes/useradd_base.bbclass
index 5e1c699118..93c648f8c4 100644
--- a/meta/classes/useradd_base.bbclass
+++ b/meta/classes/useradd_base.bbclass
@@ -56,13 +56,14 @@ perform_groupmems () {
 	bbnote "${PN}: Performing groupmems with [$opts]"
 	local groupname=`echo "$opts" | awk '{ for (i = 1; i < NF; i++) if ($i == "-g" || $i == "--group") print $(i+1) }'`
 	local username=`echo "$opts" | awk '{ for (i = 1; i < NF; i++) if ($i == "-a" || $i == "--add") print $(i+1) }'`
-	bbnote "${PN}: Running groupmems command with group $groupname and user $username"
+	local prefix=`echo "$opts" | awk '{ for (i = 1; i < NF; i++) if ($i == "--prefix") print $(i+1) }'`
+	bbnote "${PN}: Emulating groupmems command using usermod with group $groupname and user $username"
 	local mem_exists="`grep "^$groupname:[^:]*:[^:]*:\([^,]*,\)*$username\(,[^,]*\)*$" $rootdir/etc/group || true`"
 	if test "x$mem_exists" = "x"; then
-		eval flock -x $rootdir${sysconfdir} -c \"$PSEUDO groupmems \$opts\" || true
+		eval flock -x $rootdir${sysconfdir} -c \"$PSEUDO usermod \${prefix:+--prefix \$prefix} --append --groups \$groupname \$username\" || true
 		mem_exists="`grep "^$groupname:[^:]*:[^:]*:\([^,]*,\)*$username\(,[^,]*\)*$" $rootdir/etc/group || true`"
 		if test "x$mem_exists" = "x"; then
-			bbfatal "${PN}: groupmems command did not succeed."
+			bbfatal "${PN}: groupmems command (emulated using usermod) did not succeed."
 		fi
 	else
 		bbnote "${PN}: group $groupname already contains $username, not re-adding it"