diff --git a/arch/sandbox/cpu/os.c b/arch/sandbox/cpu/os.c
index f5000e6..2d9583c 100644
--- a/arch/sandbox/cpu/os.c
+++ b/arch/sandbox/cpu/os.c
@@ -777,7 +777,7 @@
 	return os_jump_to_file(fname);
 }
 
-int os_find_u_boot(char *fname, int maxlen)
+int os_find_u_boot(char *fname, int maxlen, bool use_img)
 {
 	struct sandbox_state *state = state_get_current();
 	const char *progname = state->argv[0];
@@ -801,8 +801,8 @@
 			return 0;
 		}
 
-		/* Look for 'u-boot-tpl' in the tpl/ directory */
-		p = strstr(fname, "/tpl/");
+		/* Look for 'u-boot-spl' in the spl/ directory */
+		p = strstr(fname, "/spl/");
 		if (p) {
 			p[1] = 's';
 			fd = os_open(fname, O_RDONLY);
@@ -829,6 +829,8 @@
 	if (p) {
 		/* Remove the "spl" characters */
 		memmove(p, p + 4, strlen(p + 4) + 1);
+		if (use_img)
+			strcat(p, ".img");
 		fd = os_open(fname, O_RDONLY);
 		if (fd >= 0) {
 			close(fd);
diff --git a/arch/sandbox/cpu/spl.c b/arch/sandbox/cpu/spl.c
index ce5aae8..f82b0d3 100644
--- a/arch/sandbox/cpu/spl.c
+++ b/arch/sandbox/cpu/spl.c
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@
 	char fname[256];
 	int ret;
 
-	ret = os_find_u_boot(fname, sizeof(fname));
+	ret = os_find_u_boot(fname, sizeof(fname), false);
 	if (ret) {
 		printf("(%s not found, error %d)\n", fname, ret);
 		return ret;
diff --git a/include/os.h b/include/os.h
index d2a4afe..77d8bd8 100644
--- a/include/os.h
+++ b/include/os.h
@@ -324,9 +324,10 @@
  *
  * @fname:	place to put full path to U-Boot
  * @maxlen:	maximum size of @fname
+ * @use_img:	select the 'u-boot.img' file instead of the 'u-boot' ELF file
  * Return:	0 if OK, -NOSPC if the filename is too large, -ENOENT if not found
  */
-int os_find_u_boot(char *fname, int maxlen);
+int os_find_u_boot(char *fname, int maxlen, bool use_img);
 
 /**
  * os_spl_to_uboot() - Run U-Boot proper