diff --git a/handlers/main.yml b/handlers/main.yml
index 018bb275..2da9e103 100644
--- a/handlers/main.yml
+++ b/handlers/main.yml
@@ -80,11 +80,6 @@
     path: "/tmp/rootfs.tar.xz"
     state: "absent"
 
-- name: Remove metadata archive
-  file:
-    path: "/tmp/meta.tar.xz"
-    state: "absent"
-
 - name: Restart dnsmasq
   service:
     name: "lxc-dnsmasq"
diff --git a/tasks/lxc_cache_create.yml b/tasks/lxc_cache_create.yml
index 1e6c76ba..e5842743 100644
--- a/tasks/lxc_cache_create.yml
+++ b/tasks/lxc_cache_create.yml
@@ -37,29 +37,19 @@
   tags:
     - skip_ansible_lint
 
-- name: Fetch LXC image-metadata
-  shell: >
-    aria2c
-    --max-connection-per-server=4
-    --continue
-    --allow-overwrite=true
-    --dir=/tmp
-    --out=meta.tar.xz
-    --check-certificate={{ (lxc_hosts_validate_certs | bool) | lower }}
-    {% for server in lxc_image_cache_server_mirrors %}{{ server }}/{{ lxc_images[0].split(';')[-1] }}/meta.tar.xz {% endfor %}
-  args:
-    warn: no
-  tags:
-    - skip_ansible_lint
-    - always
-
-- name: Place container metadata
-  unarchive:
-    src: "/tmp/meta.tar.xz"
-    dest: "{{ cache_path_fact }}"
-    remote_src: True
-  notify:
-    - Remove metadata archive
+- name: Drop container meta-data
+  template:
+    src: "meta-data/{{ item }}"
+    dest: "{{ cache_path_fact }}/{{ item }}"
+    owner: "root"
+    group: "root"
+    mode: "0644"
+  with_items:
+    - config
+    - config.5
+    - create-message
+    - expiry
+    - templates
 
 - name: Set cache expiry
   shell: "date -d @{{ (cache_time | int) + 31536000 }}"
diff --git a/templates/meta-data/config b/templates/meta-data/config
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..aa8f1f4d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/templates/meta-data/config
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+lxc.include = LXC_TEMPLATE_CONFIG/{{ lxc_cache_map.distro }}.common.conf
+lxc.arch = x86_64
diff --git a/templates/meta-data/config.5 b/templates/meta-data/config.5
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..7573ff31
--- /dev/null
+++ b/templates/meta-data/config.5
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+lxc.include = LXC_TEMPLATE_CONFIG/common.conf
+lxc.arch = x86_64
diff --git a/templates/meta-data/create-message b/templates/meta-data/create-message
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..85d21eec
--- /dev/null
+++ b/templates/meta-data/create-message
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+Created a {{ lxc_cache_map.distro }} container (release={{ lxc_cache_map.release }}, arch={{ lxc_cache_map.arch }}, variant={{ lxc_cache_default_variant }})
+
+Use lxc-attach or chroot directly into the rootfs to set a root password
+or create user accounts.
diff --git a/templates/meta-data/expiry b/templates/meta-data/expiry
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e69de29b
diff --git a/templates/meta-data/templates b/templates/meta-data/templates
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..15e81481
--- /dev/null
+++ b/templates/meta-data/templates
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+/etc/hostname
+/etc/hosts