diff --git a/modules/installer/grub/grub-menu-builder.sh b/modules/installer/grub/grub-menu-builder.sh
index c09b13f801d..1cce302fdf0 100644
--- a/modules/installer/grub/grub-menu-builder.sh
+++ b/modules/installer/grub/grub-menu-builder.sh
@@ -28,32 +28,25 @@ esac
 
 
 prologue() {
-    if test -n "@splashImage@"; then
-	splashLocation="@splashImage@"
-	if test "$grubVersion" -eq 1 ; then
-    	    # Splash images in /nix/store don't seem to work, so copy them.
-	    cp -f $splashLocation /boot/background.xpm.gz
-	    splashLocation="$bootDevice/background.xpm.gz"
-	fi
-    fi
-
     case "$grubVersion" in
 	1)
+            cp -f "@splashImage@" /boot/background.xpm.gz
 	    cat > "$1" << GRUBEND
 # Automatically generated.  DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE!
 default @default@
 timeout @timeout@
 GRUBEND
 	    if test -n "@splashImage@"; then
-		echo "splashimage $splashLocation" >> "$1"
+		echo "splashimage $bootDevice/background.xpm.gz" >> "$1"
 	    fi
 	    ;;
 	2)
+            cp -f @grub@/share/grub/unicode.pf2 /boot/grub/unicode.pf2
 	    cat > "$1" <<EOF
 # Automatically generated.  DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE!
 set default=@default@
 set timeout=@timeout@
-if loadfont @grub@/share/grub/unicode.pf2 ; then
+if loadfont $bootDevice/grub/unicode.pf2; then
   set gfxmode=640x480
   insmod gfxterm
   insmod vbe
@@ -61,13 +54,14 @@ if loadfont @grub@/share/grub/unicode.pf2 ; then
 fi
 EOF
 	    if test -n "@splashImage@"; then
+                cp -f "@splashImage@" /boot/background.png
 		# FIXME: GRUB 1.97 doesn't resize the background image
 		# if it doesn't match the video resolution.
 		cat >> "$1" <<EOF
 insmod png
-if background_image $splashLocation ; then
-  set color_normal=black/black
-  set color_highlight=magenta/black
+if background_image $bootDevice/background.png; then
+  set color_normal=white/black
+  set color_highlight=black/white
 else
   set menu_color_normal=cyan/blue
   set menu_color_highlight=white/blue
@@ -244,8 +238,7 @@ for generation in $(
 done
 
 
-# Atomically update /boot/grub/menu.lst.  !!! should do an fsync()
-# here on $tmp, especially on ext4.
+# Atomically update the GRUB configuration file.
 mv $tmp $target
 
 
diff --git a/modules/installer/grub/grub.nix b/modules/installer/grub/grub.nix
index 7919b71b9d7..4bc36114f38 100644
--- a/modules/installer/grub/grub.nix
+++ b/modules/installer/grub/grub.nix
@@ -4,12 +4,12 @@ with pkgs.lib;
 
 let
 
+  grub = if config.boot.loader.grub.version == 1 then pkgs.grub else pkgs.grub2;
+
   grubMenuBuilder = pkgs.substituteAll {
     src = ./grub-menu-builder.sh;
     isExecutable = true;
-    grub = if config.boot.loader.grub.version == 1
-           then pkgs.grub
-           else pkgs.grub2;
+    inherit grub;
     inherit (pkgs) bash;
     path = [pkgs.coreutils pkgs.gnused pkgs.gnugrep];
     inherit (config.boot.loader.grub) copyKernels extraEntries extraEntriesBeforeNixOS
@@ -156,17 +156,8 @@ in
     system.boot.loader.id = "grub";
     system.boot.loader.kernelFile = "vmlinuz";
 
-    environment.systemPackages =
-      mkIf config.boot.loader.grub.enable
-           (let version = config.boot.loader.grub.version; in
-              assert version != 1 -> version == 2;
+    environment.systemPackages = mkIf config.boot.loader.grub.enable [ grub ];
 
-              if version == 1
-              then [ pkgs.grub ]
-              else [ pkgs.grub2 ]);
-
-    # and many other things that have to be moved inside this file.
-    
   };
   
 }