diff --git a/nixos/modules/virtualisation/qemu-vm.nix b/nixos/modules/virtualisation/qemu-vm.nix
index 5a502c36180..a927766eabb 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/virtualisation/qemu-vm.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/virtualisation/qemu-vm.nix
@@ -81,6 +81,7 @@ let
 
   drivesCmdLine = drives: concatStringsSep " " (imap1 driveCmdline drives);
 
+
   # Creates a device name from a 1-based a numerical index, e.g.
   # * `driveDeviceName 1` -> `/dev/vda`
   # * `driveDeviceName 2` -> `/dev/vdb`
@@ -99,6 +100,13 @@ let
   addDeviceNames =
     imap1 (idx: drive: drive // { device = driveDeviceName idx; });
 
+  efiPrefix =
+    if (pkgs.stdenv.isi686 || pkgs.stdenv.isx86_64) then "${pkgs.OVMF.fd}/FV/OVMF"
+    else if pkgs.stdenv.isAarch64 then "${pkgs.OVMF.fd}/FV/AAVMF"
+    else throw "No EFI firmware available for platform";
+  efiFirmware = "${efiPrefix}_CODE.fd";
+  efiVarsDefault = "${efiPrefix}_VARS.fd";
+
   # Shell script to start the VM.
   startVM =
     ''
@@ -124,10 +132,14 @@ let
         # A writable boot disk can be booted from automatically.
         ${qemu}/bin/qemu-img create -f qcow2 -b ${bootDisk}/disk.img $TMPDIR/disk.img || exit 1
 
+        NIX_EFI_VARS=$(readlink -f ''${NIX_EFI_VARS:-${cfg.efiVars}})
+
         ${if cfg.useEFIBoot then ''
-          # VM needs a writable flash BIOS.
-          cp ${bootDisk}/bios.bin $TMPDIR || exit 1
-          chmod 0644 $TMPDIR/bios.bin || exit 1
+          # VM needs writable EFI vars
+          if ! test -e "$NIX_EFI_VARS"; then
+            cp ${bootDisk}/efi-vars.fd "$NIX_EFI_VARS" || exit 1
+            chmod 0644 "$NIX_EFI_VARS" || exit 1
+          fi
         '' else ''
         ''}
       '' else ''
@@ -172,21 +184,22 @@ let
             ''
               mkdir $out
               diskImage=$out/disk.img
-              bootFlash=$out/bios.bin
-              ${qemu}/bin/qemu-img create -f qcow2 $diskImage "40M"
+              ${qemu}/bin/qemu-img create -f qcow2 $diskImage "60M"
               ${if cfg.useEFIBoot then ''
-                cp ${pkgs.OVMF-CSM.fd}/FV/OVMF.fd $bootFlash
-                chmod 0644 $bootFlash
+                efiVars=$out/efi-vars.fd
+                cp ${efiVarsDefault} $efiVars
+                chmod 0644 $efiVars
               '' else ''
               ''}
             '';
           buildInputs = [ pkgs.utillinux ];
-          QEMU_OPTS = if cfg.useEFIBoot
-                      then "-pflash $out/bios.bin -nographic -serial pty"
-                      else "-nographic -serial pty";
+          QEMU_OPTS = "-nographic -serial stdio -monitor none"
+                      + lib.optionalString cfg.useEFIBoot (
+                        " -drive if=pflash,format=raw,unit=0,readonly=on,file=${efiFirmware}"
+                      + " -drive if=pflash,format=raw,unit=1,file=$efiVars");
         }
         ''
-          # Create a /boot EFI partition with 40M and arbitrary but fixed GUIDs for reproducibility
+          # Create a /boot EFI partition with 60M and arbitrary but fixed GUIDs for reproducibility
           ${pkgs.gptfdisk}/bin/sgdisk \
             --set-alignment=1 --new=1:34:2047 --change-name=1:BIOSBootPartition --typecode=1:ef02 \
             --set-alignment=512 --largest-new=2 --change-name=2:EFISystem --typecode=2:ef00 \
@@ -210,6 +223,10 @@ let
           mkdir /boot
           mount /dev/vda2 /boot
 
+          ${optionalString config.boot.loader.efi.canTouchEfiVariables ''
+            mount -t efivarfs efivarfs /sys/firmware/efi/efivars
+          ''}
+
           # This is needed for GRUB 0.97, which doesn't know about virtio devices.
           mkdir /boot/grub
           echo '(hd0) /dev/vda' > /boot/grub/device.map
@@ -467,6 +484,16 @@ in
           '';
       };
 
+    virtualisation.efiVars =
+      mkOption {
+        default = "./${vmName}-efi-vars.fd";
+        description =
+          ''
+            Path to nvram image containing UEFI variables.  The will be created
+            on startup if it does not exist.
+          '';
+      };
+
     virtualisation.bios =
       mkOption {
         default = null;
@@ -556,7 +583,8 @@ in
         ''-append "$(cat ${config.system.build.toplevel}/kernel-params) init=${config.system.build.toplevel}/init regInfo=${regInfo}/registration ${consoles} $QEMU_KERNEL_PARAMS"''
       ])
       (mkIf cfg.useEFIBoot [
-        "-pflash $TMPDIR/bios.bin"
+        "-drive if=pflash,format=raw,unit=0,readonly,file=${efiFirmware}"
+        "-drive if=pflash,format=raw,unit=1,file=$NIX_EFI_VARS"
       ])
       (mkIf (cfg.bios != null) [
         "-bios ${cfg.bios}/bios.bin"
diff --git a/nixos/tests/all-tests.nix b/nixos/tests/all-tests.nix
index e13a5ee57f6..4eb6849cfc6 100644
--- a/nixos/tests/all-tests.nix
+++ b/nixos/tests/all-tests.nix
@@ -323,7 +323,7 @@ in
   systemd = handleTest ./systemd.nix {};
   systemd-analyze = handleTest ./systemd-analyze.nix {};
   systemd-binfmt = handleTestOn ["x86_64-linux"] ./systemd-binfmt.nix {};
-  systemd-boot = handleTestOn ["x86_64-linux"] ./systemd-boot.nix {};
+  systemd-boot = handleTest ./systemd-boot.nix {};
   systemd-confinement = handleTest ./systemd-confinement.nix {};
   systemd-timesyncd = handleTest ./systemd-timesyncd.nix {};
   systemd-networkd-vrf = handleTest ./systemd-networkd-vrf.nix {};
diff --git a/nixos/tests/systemd-boot.nix b/nixos/tests/systemd-boot.nix
index eba4729d6de..7a663dd9b42 100644
--- a/nixos/tests/systemd-boot.nix
+++ b/nixos/tests/systemd-boot.nix
@@ -11,6 +11,8 @@ let
     virtualisation.useBootLoader = true;
     virtualisation.useEFIBoot = true;
     boot.loader.systemd-boot.enable = true;
+    boot.loader.efi.canTouchEfiVariables = true;
+    environment.systemPackages = [ pkgs.efibootmgr ];
   };
 in
 {
@@ -31,6 +33,36 @@ in
       machine.succeed(
           "test -e /sys/firmware/efi/efivars/LoaderEntrySelected-4a67b082-0a4c-41cf-b6c7-440b29bb8c4f"
       )
+
+      # "bootctl install" should have created an EFI entry
+      machine.succeed('efibootmgr | grep "Linux Boot Manager"')
+    '';
+  };
+
+  # Boot without having created an EFI entry--instead using default "/EFI/BOOT/BOOTX64.EFI"
+  fallback = makeTest {
+    name = "systemd-boot-fallback";
+    meta.maintainers = with pkgs.stdenv.lib.maintainers; [ danielfullmer ];
+
+    machine = { pkgs, lib, ... }: {
+      imports = [ common ];
+      boot.loader.efi.canTouchEfiVariables = mkForce false;
+    };
+
+    testScript = ''
+      machine.start()
+      machine.wait_for_unit("multi-user.target")
+
+      machine.succeed("test -e /boot/loader/entries/nixos-generation-1.conf")
+
+      # Ensure we actually booted using systemd-boot
+      # Magic number is the vendor UUID used by systemd-boot.
+      machine.succeed(
+          "test -e /sys/firmware/efi/efivars/LoaderEntrySelected-4a67b082-0a4c-41cf-b6c7-440b29bb8c4f"
+      )
+
+      # "bootctl install" should _not_ have created an EFI entry
+      machine.fail('efibootmgr | grep "Linux Boot Manager"')
     '';
   };
 
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/virtualization/OVMF/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/virtualization/OVMF/default.nix
index 19ba8ced497..94d0ae94dbd 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/virtualization/OVMF/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/virtualization/OVMF/default.nix
@@ -41,11 +41,14 @@ edk2.mkDerivation projectDscPath {
     mkdir -vp $fd/AAVMF
     mv -v $out/FV/QEMU_{EFI,VARS}.fd $fd/FV
 
-    # Uses Fedora dir layout: https://src.fedoraproject.org/cgit/rpms/edk2.git/tree/edk2.spec
-    # FIXME: why is it different from Debian dir layout? https://salsa.debian.org/qemu-team/edk2/blob/debian/debian/rules
-    dd of=$fd/AAVMF/QEMU_EFI-pflash.raw       if=/dev/zero bs=1M    count=64
-    dd of=$fd/AAVMF/QEMU_EFI-pflash.raw       if=$fd/FV/QEMU_EFI.fd conv=notrunc
-    dd of=$fd/AAVMF/vars-template-pflash.raw if=/dev/zero bs=1M    count=64
+    # Use Debian dir layout: https://salsa.debian.org/qemu-team/edk2/blob/debian/debian/rules
+    dd of=$fd/FV/AAVMF_CODE.fd  if=/dev/zero bs=1M    count=64
+    dd of=$fd/FV/AAVMF_CODE.fd  if=$fd/FV/QEMU_EFI.fd conv=notrunc
+    dd of=$fd/FV/AAVMF_VARS.fd  if=/dev/zero bs=1M    count=64
+
+    # Also add symlinks for Fedora dir layout: https://src.fedoraproject.org/cgit/rpms/edk2.git/tree/edk2.spec
+    ln -s $fd/FV/AAVMF_CODE.fd $fd/AAVMF/QEMU_EFI-pflash.raw
+    ln -s $fd/FV/AAVMF_VARS.fd $fd/AAVMF/vars-template-pflash.raw
   '' else ''
     mkdir -vp $fd/FV
     mv -v $out/FV/OVMF{,_CODE,_VARS}.fd $fd/FV