diff --git a/share/man/man5/mount.conf.5 b/share/man/man5/mount.conf.5
--- a/share/man/man5/mount.conf.5
+++ b/share/man/man5/mount.conf.5
@@ -143,6 +143,20 @@
 If
 .Ic .timeout
 is not specified, the default timeout is 3 seconds.
+.It Ic .hold_timeout Ar N
+Before trying to mount a root file system,
+if the root hold is active, wait at most
+.Ar N
+seconds for the root hold to drop.
+A value of -1 waits forever, which was the
+.Fx 11
+though
+.Fx 14
+behavior for zfs, nfs and p9fs.
+A value of 0 does not wait at all.
+If
+.Ic .hold_timeout
+is not specified, the default timeout is 10 seconds.
 .El
 .Sh EXAMPLES
 The following example
@@ -224,6 +238,22 @@
 .Xr devfs 4 .
 If this directory does not exist, the system
 may hang during the bootup process.
+.Pp
+When root is a ZFS, NFS, and P9FS filesystem, or if
+.Va vfs.mountroot.root_mount_awlays_wait
+is none-zero,
+.Fn vfs_mountroot
+will wait up to
+the
+.Va .hold_timeout
+set in the config file or the
+.Va vfs.mountroot.hold_timeout
+tunable seconds for the root holds to be dropped.
+During execution of startup scripts in
+.Pa /etc/rc.d ,
+the system will wait up to
+.Va root_hold_delay
+seconds for the root holds to be released.
 .Sh SEE ALSO
 .Xr nmount 2 ,
 .Xr md 4 ,
diff --git a/sys/kern/vfs_mountroot.c b/sys/kern/vfs_mountroot.c
--- a/sys/kern/vfs_mountroot.c
+++ b/sys/kern/vfs_mountroot.c
@@ -132,6 +132,10 @@
 static int root_mount_timeout = 3;
 TUNABLE_INT("vfs.mountroot.timeout", &root_mount_timeout);
 
+/* Wait 10s for the root holds to drop, set to 0 to ignore root hold, -1 for loop forever */
+static int root_hold_timeout = 10;
+TUNABLE_INT("vfs.mountroot.hold_timeout", &root_hold_timeout);
+
 static int root_mount_always_wait = 0;
 SYSCTL_INT(_vfs, OID_AUTO, root_mount_always_wait, CTLFLAG_RDTUN,
     &root_mount_always_wait, 0,
@@ -686,6 +690,25 @@
 	return (error);
 }
 
+static int
+parse_dir_hold_timeout(char **conf)
+{
+	char *tok, *endtok;
+	long secs;
+	int error;
+
+	error = parse_token(conf, &tok);
+	if (error)
+		return (error);
+
+	secs = strtol(tok, &endtok, 0);
+	error = (secs < 0 || *endtok != '\0') ? EINVAL : 0;
+	if (!error)
+		root_hold_timeout = secs;
+	free(tok, M_TEMP);
+	return (error);
+}
+
 static int
 parse_directive(char **conf)
 {
@@ -704,6 +727,8 @@
 		error = parse_dir_onfail(conf);
 	else if (strcmp(dir, ".timeout") == 0)
 		error = parse_dir_timeout(conf);
+	else if (strcmp(dir, ".hold_timeout") == 0)
+		error = parse_dir_hold_timeout(conf);
 	else {
 		printf("mountroot: invalid directive `%s'\n", dir);
 		/* Ignore the rest of the line. */
@@ -978,14 +1003,17 @@
 	struct thread *td;
 	struct timeval lastfail;
 	int curfail;
+	sbintime_t start, now;
 
 	TSENTER();
 
 	curfail = 0;
 	lastfail.tv_sec = 0;
+	now = start = sbinuptime();
 	eventratecheck(&lastfail, &curfail, 1);
 	td = curthread;
-	while (1) {
+	while (root_hold_timeout < 0 ||
+	    now - start < (SBT_1S * root_hold_timeout)) {
 		g_waitidle(td);
 		mtx_lock(&root_holds_mtx);
 		if (TAILQ_EMPTY(&root_holds)) {
@@ -1002,6 +1030,7 @@
 		msleep(&root_holds, &root_holds_mtx, PZERO | PDROP, "roothold",
 		    hz);
 		TSUNWAIT("root mount");
+		now = sbinuptime();
 	}
 	g_waitidle(td);