diff --git a/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-2311.section.md b/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-2311.section.md
index eb68c9acbf8a..28330764418a 100644
--- a/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-2311.section.md
+++ b/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-2311.section.md
@@ -80,6 +80,8 @@
 
 - The Caddy module gained a new option named `services.caddy.enableReload` which is enabled by default. It allows reloading the service instead of restarting it, if only a config file has changed. This option must be disabled if you have turned off the [Caddy admin API](https://caddyserver.com/docs/caddyfile/options#admin). If you keep this option enabled, you should consider setting [`grace_period`](https://caddyserver.com/docs/caddyfile/options#grace-period) to a non-infinite value to prevent Caddy from delaying the reload indefinitely.
 
+- mdraid support is now optional. This reduces initramfs size and prevents the potentially undesired automatic detection and activation of software RAID pools. It is disabled by default in new configurations (determined by `stateVersion`), but the appropriate settings will be generated by `nixos-generate-config` when installing to a software RAID device, so the standard installation procedure should be unaffected. If you have custom configs relying on mdraid, ensure that you use `stateVersion` correctly or set `boot.swraid.enable` manually.
+
 ## Other Notable Changes {#sec-release-23.11-notable-changes}
 
 - The Cinnamon module now enables XDG desktop integration by default. If you are experiencing collisions related to xdg-desktop-portal-gtk you can safely remove `xdg.portal.extraPortals = [ pkgs.xdg-desktop-portal-gtk ];` from your NixOS configuration.
diff --git a/nixos/modules/installer/tools/nixos-generate-config.pl b/nixos/modules/installer/tools/nixos-generate-config.pl
index 2e572ef02473..7d0c5898e23d 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/installer/tools/nixos-generate-config.pl
+++ b/nixos/modules/installer/tools/nixos-generate-config.pl
@@ -381,6 +381,7 @@ sub in {
 
 my $fileSystems;
 my %fsByDev;
+my $useSwraid = 0;
 foreach my $fs (read_file("/proc/self/mountinfo")) {
     chomp $fs;
     my @fields = split / /, $fs;
@@ -510,8 +511,8 @@ EOF
     # boot.initrd.luks.devices entry.
     if (-e $device) {
         my $deviceName = basename(abs_path($device));
-        if (-e "/sys/class/block/$deviceName"
-            && read_file("/sys/class/block/$deviceName/dm/uuid",  err_mode => 'quiet') =~ /^CRYPT-LUKS/)
+        my $dmUuid = read_file("/sys/class/block/$deviceName/dm/uuid",  err_mode => 'quiet');
+        if ($dmUuid =~ /^CRYPT-LUKS/)
         {
             my @slaves = glob("/sys/class/block/$deviceName/slaves/*");
             if (scalar @slaves == 1) {
@@ -527,8 +528,14 @@ EOF
                 }
             }
         }
+        if (-e "/sys/class/block/$deviceName/md/uuid") {
+            $useSwraid = 1;
+        }
     }
 }
+if ($useSwraid) {
+    push @attrs, "boot.swraid.enable = true;\n\n";
+}
 
 
 # Generate the hardware configuration file.
diff --git a/nixos/modules/profiles/installation-device.nix b/nixos/modules/profiles/installation-device.nix
index 32884f4b8754..4120d5919d7d 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/profiles/installation-device.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/profiles/installation-device.nix
@@ -106,6 +106,8 @@ with lib;
         systemdStage1Network
       ];
 
+    boot.swraid.enable = true;
+
     # Show all debug messages from the kernel but don't log refused packets
     # because we have the firewall enabled. This makes installs from the
     # console less cumbersome if the machine has a public IP.
diff --git a/nixos/modules/system/boot/stage-1.nix b/nixos/modules/system/boot/stage-1.nix
index dcb15cf7d42b..eec3461de7e7 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/system/boot/stage-1.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/system/boot/stage-1.nix
@@ -133,10 +133,6 @@ let
       copy_bin_and_libs ${getBin pkgs.lvm2}/bin/dmsetup
       copy_bin_and_libs ${getBin pkgs.lvm2}/bin/lvm
 
-      # Add RAID mdadm tool.
-      copy_bin_and_libs ${pkgs.mdadm}/sbin/mdadm
-      copy_bin_and_libs ${pkgs.mdadm}/sbin/mdmon
-
       # Copy udev.
       copy_bin_and_libs ${udev}/bin/udevadm
       copy_bin_and_libs ${udev}/lib/systemd/systemd-sysctl
@@ -225,7 +221,6 @@ let
       $out/bin/udevadm --version
       $out/bin/dmsetup --version 2>&1 | tee -a log | grep -q "version:"
       LVM_SYSTEM_DIR=$out $out/bin/lvm version 2>&1 | tee -a log | grep -q "LVM"
-      $out/bin/mdadm --version
       ${optionalString config.services.multipath.enable ''
         ($out/bin/multipath || true) 2>&1 | grep -q 'need to be root'
         ($out/bin/multipathd || true) 2>&1 | grep -q 'need to be root'
@@ -354,9 +349,6 @@ let
       [ { object = bootStage1;
           symlink = "/init";
         }
-        { object = pkgs.writeText "mdadm.conf" config.boot.initrd.services.swraid.mdadmConf;
-          symlink = "/etc/mdadm.conf";
-        }
         { object = pkgs.runCommand "initrd-kmod-blacklist-ubuntu" {
               src = "${pkgs.kmod-blacklist-ubuntu}/modprobe.conf";
               preferLocalBuild = true;
@@ -727,6 +719,6 @@ in
   };
 
   imports = [
-    (mkRenamedOptionModule [ "boot" "initrd" "mdadmConf" ] [ "boot" "initrd" "services" "swraid" "mdadmConf" ])
+    (mkRenamedOptionModule [ "boot" "initrd" "mdadmConf" ] [ "boot" "swraid" "mdadmConf" ])
   ];
 }
diff --git a/nixos/modules/tasks/swraid.nix b/nixos/modules/tasks/swraid.nix
index 1c3f1db15099..9dca230ac0d5 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/tasks/swraid.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/tasks/swraid.nix
@@ -1,47 +1,71 @@
 { config, pkgs, lib, ... }: let
 
-  cfg = config.boot.initrd.services.swraid;
+  cfg = config.boot.swraid;
 
 in {
 
-  options.boot.initrd.services.swraid = {
+  options.boot.swraid = {
     enable = lib.mkEnableOption (lib.mdDoc "swraid support using mdadm") // {
-      description = ''
-        *This will only be used when systemd is used in stage 1.*
+      description = lib.mdDoc ''
+        Whether to enable support for Linux MD RAID arrays.
 
-        Whether to enable swraid support using mdadm.
+        When this is enabled, mdadm will be added to the system path,
+        and MD RAID arrays will be detected and activated
+        automatically, both in stage-1 (initramfs) and in stage-2 (the
+        final NixOS system).
+
+        This should be enabled if you want to be able to access and/or
+        boot from MD RAID arrays. {command}`nixos-generate-config`
+        should detect it correctly in the standard installation
+        procedure.
       '';
+      default = lib.versionOlder config.system.stateVersion "23.11";
+      defaultText = lib.mdDoc "`true` if stateVersion is older than 23.11";
     };
 
     mdadmConf = lib.mkOption {
-      description = lib.mdDoc "Contents of {file}`/etc/mdadm.conf` in initrd.";
+      description = lib.mdDoc "Contents of {file}`/etc/mdadm.conf`.";
       type = lib.types.lines;
       default = "";
     };
   };
 
-  config = {
+  config = lib.mkIf cfg.enable {
     environment.systemPackages = [ pkgs.mdadm ];
 
     services.udev.packages = [ pkgs.mdadm ];
 
     systemd.packages = [ pkgs.mdadm ];
 
-    boot.initrd.availableKernelModules = lib.mkIf (config.boot.initrd.systemd.enable -> cfg.enable) [ "md_mod" "raid0" "raid1" "raid10" "raid456" ];
+    boot.initrd = {
+      availableKernelModules = [ "md_mod" "raid0" "raid1" "raid10" "raid456" ];
 
-    boot.initrd.extraUdevRulesCommands = lib.mkIf (!config.boot.initrd.systemd.enable) ''
-      cp -v ${pkgs.mdadm}/lib/udev/rules.d/*.rules $out/
-    '';
+      extraUdevRulesCommands = lib.mkIf (!config.boot.initrd.systemd.enable) ''
+        cp -v ${pkgs.mdadm}/lib/udev/rules.d/*.rules $out/
+      '';
 
-    boot.initrd.systemd = lib.mkIf cfg.enable {
-      contents."/etc/mdadm.conf" = lib.mkIf (cfg.mdadmConf != "") {
-        text = cfg.mdadmConf;
+      extraUtilsCommands = ''
+        # Add RAID mdadm tool.
+        copy_bin_and_libs ${pkgs.mdadm}/sbin/mdadm
+        copy_bin_and_libs ${pkgs.mdadm}/sbin/mdmon
+      '';
+
+      extraUtilsCommandsTest = ''
+        $out/bin/mdadm --version
+      '';
+
+      extraFiles."/etc/mdadm.conf".source = pkgs.writeText "mdadm.conf" config.boot.swraid.mdadmConf;
+
+      systemd = {
+        contents."/etc/mdadm.conf" = lib.mkIf (cfg.mdadmConf != "") {
+          text = cfg.mdadmConf;
+        };
+
+        packages = [ pkgs.mdadm ];
+        initrdBin = [ pkgs.mdadm ];
       };
 
-      packages = [ pkgs.mdadm ];
-      initrdBin = [ pkgs.mdadm ];
+      services.udev.packages = [ pkgs.mdadm ];
     };
-
-    boot.initrd.services.udev.packages = lib.mkIf cfg.enable [ pkgs.mdadm ];
   };
 }
diff --git a/nixos/tests/installer-systemd-stage-1.nix b/nixos/tests/installer-systemd-stage-1.nix
index 05fb2b2ae89c..85155a6c682b 100644
--- a/nixos/tests/installer-systemd-stage-1.nix
+++ b/nixos/tests/installer-systemd-stage-1.nix
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@
     simpleUefiGrubSpecialisation
     simpleUefiSystemdBoot
     stratisRoot
-    # swraid
+    swraid
     zfsroot
     ;
 
diff --git a/nixos/tests/systemd-initrd-swraid.nix b/nixos/tests/systemd-initrd-swraid.nix
index 0d5a1c6354d0..d87170c92574 100644
--- a/nixos/tests/systemd-initrd-swraid.nix
+++ b/nixos/tests/systemd-initrd-swraid.nix
@@ -14,17 +14,17 @@ import ./make-test-python.nix ({ lib, pkgs, ... }: {
     boot.loader.efi.canTouchEfiVariables = true;
 
     environment.systemPackages = with pkgs; [ mdadm e2fsprogs ]; # for mdadm and mkfs.ext4
+    boot.swraid = {
+      enable = true;
+      mdadmConf = ''
+        ARRAY /dev/md0 devices=/dev/vdb,/dev/vdc
+      '';
+    };
     boot.initrd = {
       systemd = {
         enable = true;
         emergencyAccess = true;
       };
-      services.swraid = {
-        enable = true;
-        mdadmConf = ''
-          ARRAY /dev/md0 devices=/dev/vdb,/dev/vdc
-        '';
-      };
       kernelModules = [ "raid0" ];
     };