diff --git a/nixos/modules/config/nix-channel.nix b/nixos/modules/config/nix-channel.nix
index 557f17d8b3b7..8f6caaabde86 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/config/nix-channel.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/config/nix-channel.nix
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 { config, lib, ... }:
 let
   inherit (lib)
+    mkDefault
     mkIf
     mkOption
     stringAfter
@@ -21,13 +22,42 @@ in
 {
   options = {
     nix = {
+      channel = {
+        enable = mkOption {
+          description = lib.mdDoc ''
+            Whether the `nix-channel` command and state files are made available on the machine.
+
+            The following files are initialized when enabled:
+             - `/nix/var/nix/profiles/per-user/root/channels`
+             - `/root/.nix-channels`
+             - `$HOME/.nix-defexpr/channels` (on login)
+
+            Disabling this option will not remove the state files from the system.
+          '';
+          type = types.bool;
+          default = true;
+        };
+      };
+
       nixPath = mkOption {
         type = types.listOf types.str;
-        default = [
-          "nixpkgs=/nix/var/nix/profiles/per-user/root/channels/nixos"
-          "nixos-config=/etc/nixos/configuration.nix"
-          "/nix/var/nix/profiles/per-user/root/channels"
-        ];
+        default =
+          if cfg.channel.enable
+          then [
+            "nixpkgs=/nix/var/nix/profiles/per-user/root/channels/nixos"
+            "nixos-config=/etc/nixos/configuration.nix"
+            "/nix/var/nix/profiles/per-user/root/channels"
+          ]
+          else [];
+        defaultText = ''
+          if nix.channel.enable
+          then [
+            "nixpkgs=/nix/var/nix/profiles/per-user/root/channels/nixos"
+            "nixos-config=/etc/nixos/configuration.nix"
+            "/nix/var/nix/profiles/per-user/root/channels"
+          ]
+          else [];
+        '';
         description = lib.mdDoc ''
           The default Nix expression search path, used by the Nix
           evaluator to look up paths enclosed in angle brackets
@@ -49,22 +79,30 @@ in
   config = mkIf cfg.enable {
 
     environment.extraInit =
-      ''
+      mkIf cfg.channel.enable ''
         if [ -e "$HOME/.nix-defexpr/channels" ]; then
           export NIX_PATH="$HOME/.nix-defexpr/channels''${NIX_PATH:+:$NIX_PATH}"
         fi
       '';
 
+    environment.extraSetup = mkIf (!cfg.channel.enable) ''
+      rm $out/bin/nix-channel
+    '';
+
+    # NIX_PATH has a non-empty default according to Nix docs, so we don't unset
+    # it when empty.
     environment.sessionVariables = {
       NIX_PATH = cfg.nixPath;
     };
 
-    system.activationScripts.nix-channel = stringAfter [ "etc" "users" ]
-      ''
+    nix.settings.nix-path = mkIf (! cfg.channel.enable) (mkDefault "");
+
+    system.activationScripts.nix-channel = mkIf cfg.channel.enable
+      (stringAfter [ "etc" "users" ] ''
         # Subscribe the root user to the NixOS channel by default.
         if [ ! -e "/root/.nix-channels" ]; then
             echo "${config.system.defaultChannel} nixos" > "/root/.nix-channels"
         fi
-      '';
+      '');
   };
 }
diff --git a/nixos/tests/installer.nix b/nixos/tests/installer.nix
index 4f4b91518845..4941eb9a6eba 100644
--- a/nixos/tests/installer.nix
+++ b/nixos/tests/installer.nix
@@ -11,16 +11,20 @@ let
 
   # The configuration to install.
   makeConfig = { bootLoader, grubDevice, grubIdentifier, grubUseEfi
-               , extraConfig, forceGrubReinstallCount ? 0
+               , extraConfig, forceGrubReinstallCount ? 0, flake ? false
                }:
     pkgs.writeText "configuration.nix" ''
       { config, lib, pkgs, modulesPath, ... }:
 
       { imports =
           [ ./hardware-configuration.nix
-            <nixpkgs/nixos/modules/testing/test-instrumentation.nix>
+            ${if flake
+              then "" # Still included, but via installer/flake.nix
+              else "<nixpkgs/nixos/modules/testing/test-instrumentation.nix>"}
           ];
 
+        networking.hostName = "thatworked";
+
         documentation.enable = false;
 
         # To ensure that we can rebuild the grub configuration on the nixos-rebuild
@@ -67,7 +71,7 @@ let
   # partitions and filesystems.
   testScriptFun = { bootLoader, createPartitions, grubDevice, grubUseEfi
                   , grubIdentifier, preBootCommands, postBootCommands, extraConfig
-                  , testSpecialisationConfig
+                  , testSpecialisationConfig, testFlakeSwitch
                   }:
     let iface = "virtio";
         isEfi = bootLoader == "systemd-boot" || (bootLoader == "grub" && grubUseEfi);
@@ -86,9 +90,14 @@ let
 
       qemu_flags = {"qemuFlags": assemble_qemu_flags()}
 
+      import os
+
+      image_dir = machine.state_dir
+      disk_image = os.path.join(image_dir, "machine.qcow2")
+
       hd_flags = {
           "hdaInterface": "${iface}",
-          "hda": "vm-state-machine/machine.qcow2",
+          "hda": disk_image,
       }
       ${optionalString isEfi ''
         hd_flags.update(
@@ -232,6 +241,11 @@ let
       machine = create_machine_named("boot-after-rebuild-switch")
       ${preBootCommands}
       machine.wait_for_unit("network.target")
+
+      # Sanity check, is it the configuration.nix we generated?
+      hostname = machine.succeed("hostname").strip()
+      assert hostname == "thatworked"
+
       ${postBootCommands}
       machine.shutdown()
 
@@ -270,6 +284,84 @@ let
       with subtest("We should find a file named /etc/gitconfig"):
           machine.succeed("test -e /etc/gitconfig")
 
+      ${postBootCommands}
+      machine.shutdown()
+    ''
+    + optionalString testFlakeSwitch ''
+      ${preBootCommands}
+      machine.start()
+
+      with subtest("Configure system with flake"):
+        # TODO: evaluate as user?
+        machine.succeed("""
+          mkdir /root/my-config
+          mv /etc/nixos/hardware-configuration.nix /root/my-config/
+          mv /etc/nixos/secret /root/my-config/
+          rm /etc/nixos/configuration.nix
+        """)
+        machine.copy_from_host_via_shell(
+          "${makeConfig {
+               inherit bootLoader grubDevice grubIdentifier grubUseEfi extraConfig;
+               forceGrubReinstallCount = 1;
+               flake = true;
+            }}",
+          "/root/my-config/configuration.nix",
+        )
+        machine.copy_from_host_via_shell(
+          "${./installer/flake.nix}",
+          "/root/my-config/flake.nix",
+        )
+        machine.succeed("""
+          # for some reason the image does not have `pkgs.path`, so
+          # we use readlink to find a Nixpkgs source.
+          pkgs=$(readlink -f /nix/var/nix/profiles/per-user/root/channels)/nixos
+          if ! [[ -e $pkgs/pkgs/top-level/default.nix ]]; then
+            echo 1>&2 "$pkgs does not seem to be a nixpkgs source. Please fix the test so that pkgs points to a nixpkgs source.";
+            exit 1;
+          fi
+          sed -e s^@nixpkgs@^$pkgs^ -i /root/my-config/flake.nix
+        """)
+
+      with subtest("Switch to flake based config"):
+        machine.succeed("nixos-rebuild switch --flake /root/my-config#xyz")
+
+      ${postBootCommands}
+      machine.shutdown()
+
+      ${preBootCommands}
+      machine.start()
+
+      machine.wait_for_unit("multi-user.target")
+
+      with subtest("nix-channel command is not available anymore"):
+        machine.succeed("! which nix-channel")
+
+      # Note that the channel profile is still present on disk, but configured
+      # not to be used.
+      with subtest("builtins.nixPath is now empty"):
+        machine.succeed("""
+          [[ "[ ]" == "$(nix-instantiate builtins.nixPath --eval --expr)" ]]
+        """)
+
+      with subtest("<nixpkgs> does not resolve"):
+        machine.succeed("""
+          ! nix-instantiate '<nixpkgs>' --eval --expr
+        """)
+
+      with subtest("Evaluate flake config in fresh env without nix-channel"):
+        machine.succeed("nixos-rebuild switch --flake /root/my-config#xyz")
+
+      with subtest("Evaluate flake config in fresh env without channel profiles"):
+        machine.succeed("""
+          (
+            exec 1>&2
+            rm -v /root/.nix-channels
+            rm -vrf ~/.nix-defexpr
+            rm -vrf /nix/var/nix/profiles/per-user/root/channels*
+          )
+        """)
+        machine.succeed("nixos-rebuild switch --flake /root/my-config#xyz")
+
       ${postBootCommands}
       machine.shutdown()
     '';
@@ -282,6 +374,7 @@ let
     , grubDevice ? "/dev/vda", grubIdentifier ? "uuid", grubUseEfi ? false
     , enableOCR ? false, meta ? {}
     , testSpecialisationConfig ? false
+    , testFlakeSwitch ? false
     }:
     makeTest {
       inherit enableOCR;
@@ -387,7 +480,7 @@ let
       testScript = testScriptFun {
         inherit bootLoader createPartitions preBootCommands postBootCommands
                 grubDevice grubIdentifier grubUseEfi extraConfig
-                testSpecialisationConfig;
+                testSpecialisationConfig testFlakeSwitch;
       };
     };
 
@@ -439,6 +532,10 @@ let
     '';
   };
 
+  simple-test-config-flake = simple-test-config // {
+    testFlakeSwitch = true;
+  };
+
   simple-uefi-grub-config = {
     createPartitions = ''
       machine.succeed(
@@ -493,6 +590,8 @@ in {
   # one big filesystem partition.
   simple = makeInstallerTest "simple" simple-test-config;
 
+  switchToFlake = makeInstallerTest "switch-to-flake" simple-test-config-flake;
+
   # Test cloned configurations with the simple grub configuration
   simpleSpecialised = makeInstallerTest "simpleSpecialised" (simple-test-config // specialisation-test-extraconfig);
 
diff --git a/nixos/tests/installer/flake.nix b/nixos/tests/installer/flake.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..4bbef44e34fc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nixos/tests/installer/flake.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+# This file gets copied into the installation
+
+{
+  # To keep things simple, we'll use an absolute path dependency here.
+  inputs.nixpkgs.url = "@nixpkgs@";
+
+  outputs = { nixpkgs, ... }: {
+
+    nixosConfigurations.xyz = nixpkgs.lib.nixosSystem {
+      modules = [
+        ./configuration.nix
+        ( nixpkgs + "/nixos/modules/testing/test-instrumentation.nix" )
+        {
+          # We don't need nix-channel anymore
+          nix.channel.enable = false;
+        }
+      ];
+    };
+  };
+}