diff --git a/pkgs/tools/misc/grub/1.9x.nix b/pkgs/tools/misc/grub/1.9x.nix
index cd701ce66c9..26498758fb0 100644
--- a/pkgs/tools/misc/grub/1.9x.nix
+++ b/pkgs/tools/misc/grub/1.9x.nix
@@ -1,5 +1,11 @@
 { fetchurl, stdenv, bison, ncurses, libusb, freetype }:
 
+let unifont_bdf = fetchurl {
+      url = "http://unifoundry.com/unifont-5.1.20080820.bdf.gz";
+      sha256 = "0s0qfff6n6282q28nwwblp5x295zd6n71kl43xj40vgvdqxv0fxx";
+    };
+in
+
 stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   name = "grub-1.97beta3";
 
@@ -11,6 +17,12 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   buildInputs = [ bison ncurses libusb freetype ];
 
+  patchPhase =
+    '' gunzip < "${unifont_bdf}" > "unifont.bdf"
+       sed -i "configure" \
+           -e "s|/usr/src/unifont.bdf|$PWD/unifont.bdf|g"
+    '';
+
   doCheck = true;
 
   meta = {