diff --git a/INSTALL b/INSTALL
index a99ea17..a434f8c 100644
--- a/INSTALL
+++ b/INSTALL
@@ -47,12 +47,11 @@ Preliminary Mininet Installation/Configuration Notes
   To compile for Linux 2.6.33, you may need to apply the patch
   included below.
 
-  If you want to automatically load the kernel modules required
-  for OpenFlow, you could add something like the following to
-  /etc/rc.local:
+- Mininet will automatically load and remove kernel module dependencies for
+  supported switch types, using modprobe and rmmod - but these modules must be
+  in a location where modprobe can find them.
 
-    insmod /home/openflow/openflow/datapath/linux-2.6/ofdatapath.ko 
-    modprobe tun
+  See ~/mininet/util/modprobe_setup.sh for an example.
 
 - The reference OpenFlow controller (controller(8)) only supports 16
   switches by default! If you wish to run a network with more than 16
diff --git a/mininet/moduledeps.py b/mininet/moduledeps.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7cfe8e8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/mininet/moduledeps.py
@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+"Module dependency utility functions for Mininet."
+
+from mininet.util import quietRun
+from mininet.log import info, error, debug
+
+def lsmod():
+    "Return output of lsmod."
+    return quietRun( 'lsmod' )
+
+def rmmod( mod ):
+    """Return output of lsmod.
+       mod: module string"""
+    return quietRun( [ 'rmmod', mod ] )
+
+def modprobe( mod ):
+    """Return output of modprobe
+       mod: module string"""
+    return quietRun( [ 'modprobe', mod ] )
+
+OF_KMOD = 'ofdatapath'
+OVS_KMOD = 'openvswitch_mod'
+TUN = 'tun'
+
+def moduleDeps( subtract = [], add = [] ):
+    """Handle module dependencies.
+       subtract: string or list of module names to remove, if already loaded
+       add: string or list of module names to add, if not already loaded"""
+    if type( subtract ) is str:
+        subtract = [ subtract ]
+    if type( add ) is str:
+        add = [ add ]
+    for mod in subtract:
+        if mod in lsmod():
+            info( '*** Removing ' + mod + '\n' )
+            rmmodOutput = rmmod( mod )
+            if rmmodOutput:
+                error( 'Error removing ' + mod + '\n%s' % rmmodOutput )
+                exit( 1 )
+            if mod in lsmod():
+                error( 'Failed to remove ' + mod + '; still there!\n' )
+                exit( 1 )
+    for mod in add:
+        if mod not in lsmod():
+            info( '*** Loading ' + mod + '\n' )
+            modprobeOutput = modprobe( mod )
+            if modprobeOutput:
+                error( 'Error inserting ' + mod + ';\n See INSTALL.\n%s' %
+                       modprobeOutput )
+                exit( 1 )
+            if mod not in lsmod():
+                error( 'Failed to insert ' + mod + '\n' )
+                exit( 1 )
+        else:
+            debug( '*** ' + mod + ' already loaded\n' )
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/mininet/net.py b/mininet/net.py
index 0f37133..f732c36 100755
--- a/mininet/net.py
+++ b/mininet/net.py
@@ -151,6 +151,8 @@ class Mininet( object ):
         self.dps = 0 # number of created kernel datapaths
         self.terms = [] # list of spawned xterm processes
 
+        switch.setup()
+
         if build:
             self.build()
 
diff --git a/mininet/node.py b/mininet/node.py
index 44c5faa..a3126cf 100644
--- a/mininet/node.py
+++ b/mininet/node.py
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@ from time import sleep
 
 from mininet.log import info, error, debug
 from mininet.util import quietRun, makeIntfPair, moveIntf, isShellBuiltin
+from mininet.moduledeps import moduleDeps, OVS_KMOD, OF_KMOD, TUN
 
 class Node( object ):
     """A virtual network node is simply a shell in a network namespace.
@@ -397,6 +398,11 @@ class UserSwitch( Switch ):
            name: name for the switch"""
         Switch.__init__( self, name, **kwargs )
 
+    @staticmethod
+    def setup():
+        "Ensure any dependencies are loaded; if not, try to load them."
+        moduleDeps( add = TUN )
+
     def start( self, controllers ):
         """Start OpenFlow reference user datapath.
            Log to /tmp/sN-{ofd,ofp}.log.
@@ -448,6 +454,11 @@ class KernelSwitch( Switch ):
                 " in the root namespace." )
             exit( 1 )
 
+    @staticmethod
+    def setup():
+        "Ensure any dependencies are loaded; if not, try to load them."
+        moduleDeps( subtract = OVS_KMOD, add = OF_KMOD )
+
     def start( self, controllers ):
         "Start up reference kernel datapath."
         ofplog = '/tmp/' + self.name + '-ofp.log'
@@ -508,6 +519,11 @@ class OVSKernelSwitch( Switch ):
                 " in the root namespace." )
             exit( 1 )
 
+    @staticmethod
+    def setup():
+        "Ensure any dependencies are loaded; if not, try to load them."
+        moduleDeps( subtract = OF_KMOD, add = OVS_KMOD )
+
     def start( self, controllers ):
         "Start up kernel datapath."
         ofplog = '/tmp/' + self.name + '-ofp.log'
diff --git a/mininet/test/test_nets.py b/mininet/test/test_nets.py
index b5e32a3..e114e3c 100755
--- a/mininet/test/test_nets.py
+++ b/mininet/test/test_nets.py
@@ -7,10 +7,13 @@ import unittest
 
 from mininet.net import init, Mininet
 from mininet.node import KernelSwitch, Host, Controller, ControllerParams
+from mininet.node import UserSwitch, OVSKernelSwitch
 from mininet.topo import SingleSwitchTopo, LinearTopo
 
 # temporary, until user-space side is tested
-SWITCHES = { 'kernel': KernelSwitch }
+SWITCHES = { 'kernel': KernelSwitch,
+             'user': UserSwitch,
+             'ovsk': OVSKernelSwitch }
 
 
 class testSingleSwitch( unittest.TestCase ):
diff --git a/util/modprobe_setup.sh b/util/modprobe_setup.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..fec0a36
--- /dev/null
+++ b/util/modprobe_setup.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+# Script to copy built OVS and OF kernel modules to where modprobe will
+# find them automatically.  Removes the need to keep an environment variable
+# for each, and works nicely with multiple kernel versions.
+#
+# The downside is that after each recompilation of OVS or OF you'll need to
+# re-run this script.  If you're using only one kernel version, then it may be
+# a good idea to use a symbolic link in place of the copy below.
+DRIVERS_DIR=/lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/drivers
+
+OVS_DIR=~/openvswitch
+OVS_KMOD=openvswitch_mod.ko
+cp $OVS_DIR/datapath/linux-2.6/$OVS_KMOD $DRIVERS_DIR
+
+OF_DIR=~/openflow
+OF_KMOD=ofdatapath.ko
+cp $OF_DIR/datapath/linux-2.6/$OF_KMOD $DRIVERS_DIR
+
+# Update for modprobe
+sudo depmod -a