diff --git a/nixos/modules/system/boot/kernel.nix b/nixos/modules/system/boot/kernel.nix
index b0f703f122b2..9a3138ff37eb 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/system/boot/kernel.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/system/boot/kernel.nix
@@ -496,7 +496,6 @@ in
         with config.lib.kernelConfig;
         [
           # !!! Should this really be needed?
-          (isYes "MODULES")
           (isYes "BINFMT_ELF")
         ]
         ++ (optional (randstructSeed != "") (isYes "GCC_PLUGIN_RANDSTRUCT"));
diff --git a/nixos/modules/system/boot/systemd/initrd.nix b/nixos/modules/system/boot/systemd/initrd.nix
index c2b1b1ab005c..be0b8aaefd51 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/system/boot/systemd/initrd.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/system/boot/systemd/initrd.nix
@@ -464,9 +464,9 @@ in
       initrdBin = [
         pkgs.bashInteractive
         pkgs.coreutils
-        cfg.package.kmod
         cfg.package
-      ];
+      ]
+      ++ lib.optional (config.system.build.kernel.config.isYes "MODULES") cfg.package.kmod;
       extraBin = {
         less = "${pkgs.less}/bin/less";
         mount = "${cfg.package.util-linux}/bin/mount";
@@ -490,10 +490,6 @@ in
           ${attrsToSection cfg.settings.Manager}
         '';
 
-        "/lib".source = "${config.system.build.modulesClosure}/lib";
-
-        "/etc/modules-load.d/nixos.conf".text = concatStringsSep "\n" config.boot.initrd.kernelModules;
-
         # We can use either ! or * to lock the root account in the
         # console, but some software like OpenSSH won't even allow you
         # to log in with an SSH key if you use ! so we use * instead
@@ -508,11 +504,6 @@ in
         "/bin".source = "${initrdBinEnv}/bin";
         "/sbin".source = "${initrdBinEnv}/sbin";
 
-        "/etc/sysctl.d/nixos.conf".text = "kernel.modprobe = /sbin/modprobe";
-        "/etc/modprobe.d/systemd.conf".source = "${cfg.package}/lib/modprobe.d/systemd.conf";
-        "/etc/modprobe.d/ubuntu.conf".source = "${pkgs.kmod-blacklist-ubuntu}/modprobe.conf";
-        "/etc/modprobe.d/debian.conf".source = pkgs.kmod-debian-aliases;
-
         "/etc/os-release".source = config.boot.initrd.osRelease;
         "/etc/initrd-release".source = config.boot.initrd.osRelease;
 
@@ -522,6 +513,16 @@ in
       }
       // optionalAttrs (config.environment.etc ? "modprobe.d/nixos.conf") {
         "/etc/modprobe.d/nixos.conf".source = config.environment.etc."modprobe.d/nixos.conf".source;
+      }
+      // optionalAttrs (with config.system.build.kernel.config; isSet "MODULES" -> isYes "MODULES") {
+        "/lib".source = "${config.system.build.modulesClosure}/lib";
+
+        "/etc/modules-load.d/nixos.conf".text = concatStringsSep "\n" config.boot.initrd.kernelModules;
+
+        "/etc/sysctl.d/nixos.conf".text = "kernel.modprobe = /sbin/modprobe";
+        "/etc/modprobe.d/systemd.conf".source = "${cfg.package}/lib/modprobe.d/systemd.conf";
+        "/etc/modprobe.d/ubuntu.conf".source = "${pkgs.kmod-blacklist-ubuntu}/modprobe.conf";
+        "/etc/modprobe.d/debian.conf".source = pkgs.kmod-debian-aliases;
       };
 
       storePaths = [