diff --git a/lib/vagrant/util/template_renderer.rb b/lib/vagrant/util/template_renderer.rb
index 463fce22c..7fc101fd6 100644
--- a/lib/vagrant/util/template_renderer.rb
+++ b/lib/vagrant/util/template_renderer.rb
@@ -35,13 +35,25 @@ module Vagrant
       #
       # @return [String]
       def render
+        # TODO: Seems like a pretty dirty way to do this. Perhaps refactor this
+        old_template = template
         result = nil
         File.open(full_template_path, 'r') do |f|
-          erb = ERB.new(f.read)
-          result = erb.result(binding)
+          self.template = f.read
+          result = render_string
         end
 
         result
+      ensure
+        self.template = old_template
+      end
+
+      # Renders a template, handling the template as a string, but otherwise
+      # acting the same way as {#render}.
+      #
+      # @return [String]
+      def render_string
+        ERB.new(template).result(binding)
       end
 
       # Returns the full path to the template, taking into accoun the gem directory
diff --git a/test/vagrant/util/template_renderer_test.rb b/test/vagrant/util/template_renderer_test.rb
index 963e33a02..2820ee512 100644
--- a/test/vagrant/util/template_renderer_test.rb
+++ b/test/vagrant/util/template_renderer_test.rb
@@ -24,9 +24,6 @@ class TemplateRendererUtilTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
       @file = mock("file")
       @file.stubs(:read).returns(@contents)
       File.stubs(:open).yields(@file)
-
-      @erb = mock("erb")
-      @erb.stubs(:result)
     end
 
     should "open the template file for reading" do
@@ -34,15 +31,13 @@ class TemplateRendererUtilTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
       @r.render
     end
 
-    should "create an ERB object with the file contents" do
-      ERB.expects(:new).with(@file.read).returns(@erb)
-      @r.render
-    end
+    should "set the template to the file contents, render, then set it back" do
+      result = "bar"
 
-    should "render the ERB file and return the results" do
-      result = mock("result")
-      ERB.expects(:new).returns(@erb)
-      @erb.expects(:result).with(anything).once.returns(result)
+      template_seq = sequence("template_seq")
+      @r.expects(:template=).with(@file.read).in_sequence(template_seq)
+      @r.expects(:render_string).returns(result).in_sequence(template_seq)
+      @r.expects(:template=).with(@template).in_sequence(template_seq)
       assert_equal result, @r.render
     end
 
@@ -55,6 +50,21 @@ class TemplateRendererUtilTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
     end
   end
 
+  context "rendering as string" do
+    setup do
+      @result = "foo"
+      @erb = mock("erb")
+      @erb.stubs(:result).returns(@result)
+
+      @r = Vagrant::Util::TemplateRenderer.new("foo")
+    end
+
+    should "simply render the template as a string" do
+      ERB.expects(:new).with(@r.template).returns(@erb)
+      assert_equal @result, @r.render_string
+    end
+  end
+
   context "the full template path" do
     setup do
       @template = "foo"