diff --git a/provisioner/shell/provisioner.go b/provisioner/shell/provisioner.go
index 5561dc93c..ebd073fb0 100644
--- a/provisioner/shell/provisioner.go
+++ b/provisioner/shell/provisioner.go
@@ -3,11 +3,20 @@
 package shell
 
 import (
+	"github.com/mitchellh/mapstructure"
 	"github.com/mitchellh/packer/packer"
 )
 
+const DefaultRemotePath = "/tmp/script.sh"
+
 // TODO(mitchellh): config
 type config struct {
+	// The local path of the shell script to upload and execute.
+	Path string
+
+	// The remote path where the local shell script will be uploaded to.
+	// This should be set to a writable file that is in a pre-existing directory.
+	RemotePath string
 }
 
 type Provisioner struct {
@@ -15,6 +24,12 @@ type Provisioner struct {
 }
 
 func (p *Provisioner) Prepare(raw interface{}, ui packer.Ui) {
+	// TODO: errors
+	_ = mapstructure.Decode(raw, &p.config)
+
+	if p.config.RemotePath == "" {
+		p.config.RemotePath = DefaultRemotePath
+	}
 }
 
 func (p *Provisioner) Provision(ui packer.Ui, comm packer.Communicator) {
diff --git a/provisioner/shell/provisioner_test.go b/provisioner/shell/provisioner_test.go
index 2f67b0160..d0f3c2126 100644
--- a/provisioner/shell/provisioner_test.go
+++ b/provisioner/shell/provisioner_test.go
@@ -13,3 +13,13 @@ func TestProvisioner_Impl(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestProvisionerPrepare_Defaults(t *testing.T) {
+	raw := map[string]interface{} {}
+
+	p := &Provisioner{}
+	p.Prepare(raw, nil)
+
+	if p.config.RemotePath != DefaultRemotePath {
+		t.Errorf("unexpected remote path: %s", p.config.RemotePath)
+	}
+}