diff --git a/nixos/modules/installer/tools/nixos-generate-config.pl b/nixos/modules/installer/tools/nixos-generate-config.pl
index 0e6320e4695c..212b2b3cd23a 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/installer/tools/nixos-generate-config.pl
+++ b/nixos/modules/installer/tools/nixos-generate-config.pl
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ sub debug {
 
 
 # nixpkgs.system
-my ($status, @systemLines) = runCommand("nix-instantiate --impure --eval --expr builtins.currentSystem");
+my ($status, @systemLines) = runCommand("@nixInstantiate@ --impure --eval --expr builtins.currentSystem");
 if ($status != 0 || join("", @systemLines) =~ /error/) {
     die "Failed to retrieve current system type from nix.\n";
 }
diff --git a/nixos/modules/installer/tools/tools.nix b/nixos/modules/installer/tools/tools.nix
index 04be272742ce..8719a509d64c 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/installer/tools/tools.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/installer/tools/tools.nix
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ let
     name = "nixos-generate-config";
     src = ./nixos-generate-config.pl;
     perl = "${pkgs.perl.withPackages (p: [ p.FileSlurp ])}/bin/perl";
+    nixInstantiate = "${pkgs.nix}/bin/nix-instantiate";
     detectvirt = "${config.systemd.package}/bin/systemd-detect-virt";
     btrfs = "${pkgs.btrfs-progs}/bin/btrfs";
     inherit (config.system.nixos-generate-config) configuration desktopConfiguration;