diff --git a/modules/virtualisation/virtualbox-image.nix b/modules/virtualisation/virtualbox-image.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..7079b43708dd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modules/virtualisation/virtualbox-image.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,84 @@
+{ config, pkgs, ... }:
+
+with pkgs.lib;
+
+{
+  system.build.virtualBoxImage =
+    pkgs.vmTools.runInLinuxVM (
+      pkgs.runCommand "virtualbox-image"
+        { preVM =
+            ''
+              mkdir $out
+              diskImage=$out/image
+              ${pkgs.vmTools.kvm}/bin/qemu-img create -f raw $diskImage "4G"
+              mv closure xchg/
+            '';
+          postVM =
+            ''
+              ${pkgs.vmTools.kvm}/bin/qemu-img convert -f raw -O vdi $diskImage $out/disk.vdi
+              rm $diskImage
+            '';
+          buildInputs = [ pkgs.utillinux pkgs.perl ];
+          exportReferencesGraph =
+            [ "closure" config.system.build.toplevel ];
+        }
+        ''
+          # Create a single / partition.
+          ${pkgs.parted}/sbin/parted /dev/vda mklabel msdos
+          ${pkgs.parted}/sbin/parted /dev/vda -- mkpart primary ext2 1M -1s
+          . /sys/class/block/vda1/uevent
+          mknod /dev/vda1 b $MAJOR $MINOR
+
+          # Create an empty filesystem and mount it.
+          ${pkgs.e2fsprogs}/sbin/mkfs.ext3 -L nixos /dev/vda1
+          ${pkgs.e2fsprogs}/sbin/tune2fs -c 0 -i 0 /dev/vda1
+          mkdir /mnt
+          mount /dev/vda1 /mnt
+
+          # The initrd expects these directories to exist.
+          mkdir /mnt/dev /mnt/proc /mnt/sys
+          mount --bind /proc /mnt/proc
+          mount --bind /dev /mnt/dev
+          mount --bind /sys /mnt/sys
+
+          # Copy all paths in the closure to the filesystem.
+          storePaths=$(perl ${pkgs.pathsFromGraph} /tmp/xchg/closure)
+
+          mkdir -p /mnt/nix/store
+          ${pkgs.rsync}/bin/rsync -av $storePaths /mnt/nix/store/
+
+          # Register the paths in the Nix database.
+          printRegistration=1 perl ${pkgs.pathsFromGraph} /tmp/xchg/closure | \
+              chroot /mnt ${config.environment.nix}/bin/nix-store --load-db
+
+          # Create the system profile to allow nixos-rebuild to work.
+          chroot /mnt ${config.environment.nix}/bin/nix-env \
+              -p /nix/var/nix/profiles/system --set ${config.system.build.toplevel}
+
+          # `nixos-rebuild' requires an /etc/NIXOS.
+          mkdir -p /mnt/etc
+          touch /mnt/etc/NIXOS
+
+          # Install a configuration.nix.
+          mkdir -p /mnt/etc/nixos
+          cp ${./nova-config.nix} /mnt/etc/nixos/configuration.nix
+
+          # Generate the GRUB menu.
+          chroot /mnt ${config.system.build.toplevel}/bin/switch-to-configuration boot
+
+          umount /mnt/proc /mnt/dev /mnt/sys
+          umount /mnt
+        ''
+    );
+
+  fileSystems =
+    [ { mountPoint = "/";
+        device = "/dev/disk/by-label/nixos";
+      }
+    ];
+
+  boot.loader.grub.version = 2;
+  boot.loader.grub.device = "/dev/vda";
+
+  services.virtualbox.enable = true;
+}