diff --git a/src/modules/partition/core/PartitionLayout.cpp b/src/modules/partition/core/PartitionLayout.cpp
index 0b0c7bedf..4650449bf 100644
--- a/src/modules/partition/core/PartitionLayout.cpp
+++ b/src/modules/partition/core/PartitionLayout.cpp
@@ -134,7 +134,7 @@ PartitionLayout::init( const QVariantList& config )
     {
         QVariantMap pentry = r.toMap();
 
-        if ( !pentry.contains( "name" ) || !pentry.contains( "filesystem" ) || !pentry.contains( "size" ) )
+        if ( !pentry.contains( "name" ) || !pentry.contains( "size" ) )
         {
             cError() << "Partition layout entry #" << config.indexOf( r )
                      << "lacks mandatory attributes, switching to default layout.";
@@ -147,7 +147,7 @@ PartitionLayout::init( const QVariantList& config )
                           CalamaresUtils::getString( pentry, "type" ),
                           CalamaresUtils::getUnsignedInteger( pentry, "attributes", 0 ),
                           CalamaresUtils::getString( pentry, "mountPoint" ),
-                          CalamaresUtils::getString( pentry, "filesystem" ),
+                          CalamaresUtils::getString( pentry, "filesystem", "unformatted" ),
                           CalamaresUtils::getSubMap( pentry, "features", ok ),
                           CalamaresUtils::getString( pentry, "size", QStringLiteral( "0" ) ),
                           CalamaresUtils::getString( pentry, "minSize", QStringLiteral( "0" ) ),
diff --git a/src/modules/partition/partition.conf b/src/modules/partition/partition.conf
index ed2719ca7..e5de69659 100644
--- a/src/modules/partition/partition.conf
+++ b/src/modules/partition/partition.conf
@@ -207,7 +207,7 @@ defaultFileSystemType:  "ext4"
 #   - uuid: partition uuid (optional parameter; gpt only; requires KPMCore >= 4.2.0)
 #   - type: partition type (optional parameter; gpt only; requires KPMCore >= 4.2.0)
 #   - attributes: partition attributes (optional parameter; gpt only; requires KPMCore >= 4.2.0)
-#   - filesystem: filesystem type
+#   - filesystem: filesystem type (optional parameter; fs not created if "unformatted" or unset)
 #   - mountPoint: partition mount point (optional parameter; not mounted if unset)
 #   - size: partition size in bytes (append 'K', 'M' or 'G' for KiB, MiB or GiB)
 #           or