diff --git a/installer/grub-menu-builder.sh b/installer/grub-menu-builder.sh
index ddcec0e93d5..779dba30c19 100644
--- a/installer/grub-menu-builder.sh
+++ b/installer/grub-menu-builder.sh
@@ -11,17 +11,30 @@ if test -z "$1"; then
     exit 1
 fi
 
+bootMount=@bootMount@
+if test -z "$bootMount"; then bootMount=/boot; fi
+
 
 target=/boot/grub/menu.lst
 tmp=$target.tmp
 
 cat > $tmp << GRUBEND
 # Automatically generated.  DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE!
-default=0
-timeout=5
+default 0
+timeout 5
 GRUBEND
 
 
+if test -n "@grubSplashImage@"; then
+    splashLocation=@grubSplashImage@
+    # !!! image in /nix/store doesn't seem to work
+    #if test -n "@copyKernels@"; then
+	cp -f $splashLocation /boot/background.xpm.gz
+	splashLocation=$bootMount/background.xpm.gz
+    #fi
+    echo "splashimage $splashLocation" >> $tmp
+fi
+
 
 addEntry() {
     local name="$1"
@@ -48,9 +61,9 @@ addEntry() {
         fi
         initrd=$initrd2
 
-        if test -n "@bootMount@"; then
-          kernel=$(echo $kernel2 | sed -e 's^/boot^@bootMount@^')
-          initrd=$(echo $initrd2 | sed -e 's^/boot^@bootMount@^')
+        if test -n "$bootMount"; then
+          kernel=$(echo $kernel2 | sed -e "s^/boot^$bootMount^")
+          initrd=$(echo $initrd2 | sed -e "s^/boot^$bootMount^")
         fi
     fi
     
@@ -62,6 +75,7 @@ addEntry() {
     fi;
 
     cat >> $tmp << GRUBEND
+
 title $name
   kernel $kernel systemConfig=$(readlink -f $path) init=$(readlink -f $path/init) $(cat $path/kernel-params)
   initrd $initrd
diff --git a/system/options.nix b/system/options.nix
index 5b441148933..e99ab54d2b0 100644
--- a/system/options.nix
+++ b/system/options.nix
@@ -220,6 +220,20 @@
       ";
     };
 
+    grubSplashImage = mkOption {
+      default = pkgs.fetchurl {
+        url = http://www.gnome-look.org/CONTENT/content-files/36909-soft-tux.xpm.gz;
+        sha256 = "14kqdx2lfqvh40h6fjjzqgff1mwk74dmbjvmqphi6azzra7z8d59";
+      };
+      example = null;
+      description = "
+        Background image used for Grub.  It must be a 640x480,
+        14-colour image in XPM format, optionally compressed with
+        <command>gzip</command> or <command>bzip2</command>.  Set to
+        <literal>null</literal> to run Grub in text mode.
+      ";
+    };
+
   };
 
 
diff --git a/system/system.nix b/system/system.nix
index 825fbf4a434..9dbfef0c0b3 100644
--- a/system/system.nix
+++ b/system/system.nix
@@ -318,9 +318,8 @@ rec {
     isExecutable = true;
     inherit (pkgs) bash;
     path = [pkgs.coreutils pkgs.gnused pkgs.gnugrep];
-    copyKernels = config.boot.copyKernels;
-    extraGrubEntries = config.boot.extraGrubEntries;
-    bootMount = config.boot.bootMount;
+    inherit (config.boot) copyKernels extraGrubEntries
+      grubSplashImage bootMount;
   };