diff --git a/nixos/release-combined.nix b/nixos/release-combined.nix
index 2289d9156d0d..d299ead82a1b 100644
--- a/nixos/release-combined.nix
+++ b/nixos/release-combined.nix
@@ -87,7 +87,6 @@ rec {
         (onFullSupported "nixos.tests.containers-ip")
         (onSystems [ "x86_64-linux" ] "nixos.tests.docker")
         (onFullSupported "nixos.tests.env")
-        (onSystems [ "x86_64-linux" "aarch64-linux" ] "nixos.tests.ec2-userdata")
 
         # Way too many manual retries required on Hydra.
         #  Apparently it's hard to track down the cause.
diff --git a/nixos/tests/all-tests.nix b/nixos/tests/all-tests.nix
index cebf186a3bd2..603f647f0402 100644
--- a/nixos/tests/all-tests.nix
+++ b/nixos/tests/all-tests.nix
@@ -489,8 +489,9 @@ in
   early-mount-options = runTest ./early-mount-options.nix;
   earlyoom = runTestOn [ "x86_64-linux" ] ./earlyoom.nix;
   easytier = runTest ./easytier.nix;
+  ec2-config = (handleTestOn [ "x86_64-linux" ] ./ec2.nix { }).boot-ec2-config or { };
   ec2-image = runTest ./ec2-image.nix;
-  ec2-userdata = (handleTestOn [ "x86_64-linux" ] ./ec2.nix { }).ec2-userdata or { };
+  ec2-nixops = (handleTestOn [ "x86_64-linux" ] ./ec2.nix { }).boot-ec2-nixops or { };
   echoip = runTest ./echoip.nix;
   ejabberd = runTest ./xmpp/ejabberd.nix;
   elk = handleTestOn [ "x86_64-linux" ] ./elk.nix { };
diff --git a/nixos/tests/ec2.nix b/nixos/tests/ec2.nix
index c8c26be813cd..ae9a79db5403 100644
--- a/nixos/tests/ec2.nix
+++ b/nixos/tests/ec2.nix
@@ -18,6 +18,12 @@ let
         ../modules/testing/test-instrumentation.nix
         ../modules/profiles/qemu-guest.nix
         {
+          # Hack to make the partition resizing work in QEMU.
+          boot.initrd.postDeviceCommands = mkBefore ''
+            ln -s vda /dev/xvda
+            ln -s vda1 /dev/xvda1
+          '';
+
           amazonImage.format = "qcow2";
 
           # In a NixOS test the serial console is occupied by the "backdoor"
@@ -25,6 +31,30 @@ let
           # the configuration in virtualisation/amazon-image.nix.
           systemd.services."serial-getty@ttyS0".enable = mkForce false;
 
+          # Needed by nixos-rebuild due to the lack of network
+          # access. Determined by trial and error.
+          system.extraDependencies = with pkgs; [
+            # Needed for a nixos-rebuild.
+            busybox
+            cloud-utils
+            desktop-file-utils
+            libxslt.bin
+            mkinitcpio-nfs-utils
+            stdenv
+            stdenvNoCC
+            texinfo
+            unionfs-fuse
+            lndir
+
+            # These are used in the configure-from-userdata tests
+            # for EC2. Httpd and valgrind are requested by the
+            # configuration.
+            apacheHttpd
+            apacheHttpd.doc
+            apacheHttpd.man
+            valgrind.doc
+          ];
+
           nixpkgs.pkgs = pkgs;
         }
       ];
@@ -38,8 +68,8 @@ let
 
 in
 {
-  ec2-userdata = makeEc2Test {
-    name = "ec2-userdata";
+  boot-ec2-nixops = makeEc2Test {
+    name = "nixops-userdata";
     meta.timeout = 600;
     inherit image;
     sshPublicKey = snakeOilPublicKey; # That's right folks! My user's key is also the host key!
@@ -86,4 +116,49 @@ in
       machine.wait_for_file("/etc/ec2-metadata/user-data")
     '';
   };
+
+  boot-ec2-config = makeEc2Test {
+    name = "config-userdata";
+    meta.broken = true; # amazon-init wants to download from the internet while building the system
+    inherit image;
+    sshPublicKey = snakeOilPublicKey;
+
+    # ### https://channels.nixos.org/nixos-unstable nixos
+    userData = ''
+      { pkgs, ... }:
+
+      {
+        imports = [
+          <nixpkgs/nixos/modules/virtualisation/amazon-image.nix>
+          <nixpkgs/nixos/modules/testing/test-instrumentation.nix>
+          <nixpkgs/nixos/modules/profiles/qemu-guest.nix>
+        ];
+        environment.etc.testFile = {
+          text = "whoa";
+        };
+
+        networking.hostName = "ec2-test-vm"; # required by services.httpd
+
+        services.httpd = {
+          enable = true;
+          adminAddr = "test@example.org";
+          virtualHosts.localhost.documentRoot = "''${pkgs.valgrind.doc}/share/doc/valgrind/html";
+        };
+        networking.firewall.allowedTCPPorts = [ 80 ];
+      }
+    '';
+    script = ''
+      machine.start()
+
+      # amazon-init must succeed. if it fails, make the test fail
+      # immediately instead of timing out in wait_for_file.
+      machine.wait_for_unit("amazon-init.service")
+
+      machine.wait_for_file("/etc/testFile")
+      assert "whoa" in machine.succeed("cat /etc/testFile")
+
+      machine.wait_for_unit("httpd.service")
+      assert "Valgrind" in machine.succeed("curl http://localhost")
+    '';
+  };
 }