diff --git a/hypervisor/scripts/makefile/config.mk b/hypervisor/scripts/makefile/config.mk
index b45a23f2f..19a8b9828 100644
--- a/hypervisor/scripts/makefile/config.mk
+++ b/hypervisor/scripts/makefile/config.mk
@@ -111,7 +111,6 @@ HV_UNIFIED_XML_IN := $(BASEDIR)/scripts/makefile/unified.xml.in
 HV_PREDEFINED_DATA_DIR := $(realpath $(BASEDIR)/../misc/config_tools/data)
 HV_CONFIG_TOOL_DIR := $(realpath $(BASEDIR)/../misc/config_tools)
 HV_CONFIG_XFORM_DIR := $(HV_CONFIG_TOOL_DIR)/xforms
-HV_SCENARIO_XSD := $(HV_CONFIG_TOOL_DIR)/schema/config.xsd
 
 # Paths to the outputs:
 HV_CONFIG_DIR := $(HV_OBJDIR)/configs
@@ -200,7 +199,7 @@ $(HV_SCENARIO_XML):
 	  if [ -f $(SCENARIO_FILE) ]; then \
 	    echo "Scenario XML is being fetched from $(realpath $(SCENARIO_FILE))"; \
 	    mkdir -p $(dir $(HV_SCENARIO_XML)); \
-	    python3 $(HV_CONFIG_TOOL_DIR)/scenario_config/default_populator.py $(HV_SCENARIO_XSD) $(SCENARIO_FILE) $(HV_SCENARIO_XML); \
+	    python3 $(HV_CONFIG_TOOL_DIR)/scenario_config/default_populator.py $(SCENARIO_FILE) $(HV_SCENARIO_XML); \
 	  else \
 	    echo "No pre-defined scenario available at $(SCENARIO_FILE)"; \
 	    echo "Try setting another predefined BOARD or SCENARIO or specifying a scenario XML file"; \
diff --git a/misc/config_tools/scenario_config/default_populator.py b/misc/config_tools/scenario_config/default_populator.py
index d3d74fc54..fd4fef0a6 100755
--- a/misc/config_tools/scenario_config/default_populator.py
+++ b/misc/config_tools/scenario_config/default_populator.py
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ class DefaultValuePopulatingStage(PipelineStage):
         populator.transform(etree)
         obj.set("scenario_etree", etree)
 
-def main(xsd_file, xml_file, out_file):
+def main(args):
     from xml_loader import XMLLoadStage
     from lxml_loader import LXMLLoadStage
 
@@ -54,15 +54,18 @@ def main(xsd_file, xml_file, out_file):
         DefaultValuePopulatingStage(),
     ])
 
-    obj = PipelineObject(schema_path = xsd_file, scenario_path = xml_file)
+    obj = PipelineObject(schema_path = args.schema, scenario_path = args.scenario)
     pipeline.run(obj)
-    obj.get("scenario_etree").write(out_file)
+    obj.get("scenario_etree").write(args.out)
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
+    config_tools_dir = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), "..")
+    schema_dir = os.path.join(config_tools_dir, "schema")
+
     parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description="Populate a given scenario XML with default values of nonexistent nodes")
-    parser.add_argument("xsd", help="Path to the schema of scenario XMLs")
-    parser.add_argument("xml", help="Path to the scenario XML file from users")
+    parser.add_argument("scenario", help="Path to the scenario XML file from users")
     parser.add_argument("out", nargs="?", default="out.xml", help="Path where the output is placed")
+    parser.add_argument("--schema", default=os.path.join(schema_dir, "config.xsd"), help="the XML schema that defines the syntax of scenario XMLs")
     args = parser.parse_args()
 
-    main(args.xsd, args.xml, args.out)
+    main(args)
diff --git a/misc/config_tools/scenario_config/validator.py b/misc/config_tools/scenario_config/validator.py
old mode 100644
new mode 100755