diff --git a/nixos/modules/system/boot/plymouth.nix b/nixos/modules/system/boot/plymouth.nix
index 78ae8e9d20b7..8b57cae3c40d 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/system/boot/plymouth.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/system/boot/plymouth.nix
@@ -4,7 +4,10 @@ with lib;
 
 let
 
-  inherit (pkgs) plymouth nixos-icons;
+  inherit (pkgs) nixos-icons;
+  plymouth = pkgs.plymouth.override {
+    systemd = config.boot.initrd.systemd.package;
+  };
 
   cfg = config.boot.plymouth;
   opt = options.boot.plymouth;
@@ -143,7 +146,88 @@ in
     systemd.services.systemd-ask-password-plymouth.wantedBy = [ "multi-user.target" ];
     systemd.paths.systemd-ask-password-plymouth.wantedBy = [ "multi-user.target" ];
 
-    boot.initrd.extraUtilsCommands = ''
+    boot.initrd.systemd = {
+      extraBin.plymouth = "${plymouth}/bin/plymouth"; # for the recovery shell
+      storePaths = [
+        "${lib.getBin config.boot.initrd.systemd.package}/bin/systemd-tty-ask-password-agent"
+        "${plymouth}/bin/plymouthd"
+        "${plymouth}/sbin/plymouthd"
+      ];
+      packages = [ plymouth ]; # systemd units
+      contents = {
+        # Files
+        "/etc/plymouth/plymouthd.conf".source = configFile;
+        "/etc/plymouth/plymouthd.defaults".source = "${plymouth}/share/plymouth/plymouthd.defaults";
+        "/etc/plymouth/logo.png".source = cfg.logo;
+        # Directories
+        "/etc/plymouth/plugins".source = pkgs.runCommand "plymouth-initrd-plugins" {} ''
+          # Check if the actual requested theme is here
+          if [[ ! -d ${themesEnv}/share/plymouth/themes/${cfg.theme} ]]; then
+              echo "The requested theme: ${cfg.theme} is not provided by any of the packages in boot.plymouth.themePackages"
+              exit 1
+          fi
+
+          moduleName="$(sed -n 's,ModuleName *= *,,p' ${themesEnv}/share/plymouth/themes/${cfg.theme}/${cfg.theme}.plymouth)"
+
+          mkdir -p $out/renderers
+          # module might come from a theme
+          cp ${themesEnv}/lib/plymouth/{text,details,label,$moduleName}.so $out
+          cp ${plymouth}/lib/plymouth/renderers/{drm,frame-buffer}.so $out/renderers
+        '';
+        "/etc/plymouth/themes".source = pkgs.runCommand "plymouth-initrd-themes" {} ''
+          # Check if the actual requested theme is here
+          if [[ ! -d ${themesEnv}/share/plymouth/themes/${cfg.theme} ]]; then
+              echo "The requested theme: ${cfg.theme} is not provided by any of the packages in boot.plymouth.themePackages"
+              exit 1
+          fi
+
+          mkdir $out
+          cp -r ${themesEnv}/share/plymouth/themes/${cfg.theme} $out
+          # Copy more themes if the theme depends on others
+          for theme in $(grep -hRo '/etc/plymouth/themes/.*$' ${themesEnv} | xargs -n1 basename); do
+              if [[ -d "${themesEnv}/theme" ]]; then
+                  cp -r "${themesEnv}/theme" $out
+              fi
+          done
+        '';
+
+        # Fonts
+        "/etc/plymouth/fonts".source = pkgs.runCommand "plymouth-initrd-fonts" {} ''
+          mkdir -p $out
+          cp ${cfg.font} $out
+        '';
+        "/etc/fonts/fonts.conf".text = ''
+          <?xml version="1.0"?>
+          <!DOCTYPE fontconfig SYSTEM "urn:fontconfig:fonts.dtd">
+          <fontconfig>
+              <dir>/etc/plymouth/fonts</dir>
+          </fontconfig>
+        '';
+      };
+      # Properly enable units. These are the units that arch copies
+      services = {
+        plymouth-halt.wantedBy = [ "halt.target" ];
+        plymouth-kexec.wantedBy = [ "kexec.target" ];
+        plymouth-poweroff.wantedBy = [ "poweroff.target" ];
+        plymouth-quit-wait.wantedBy = [ "multi-user.target" ];
+        plymouth-quit.wantedBy = [ "multi-user.target" ];
+        plymouth-read-write.wantedBy = [ "sysinit.target" ];
+        plymouth-reboot.wantedBy = [ "reboot.target" ];
+        plymouth-start.wantedBy = [ "initrd-switch-root.target" "sysinit.target" ];
+        plymouth-switch-root-initramfs.wantedBy = [ "halt.target" "kexec.target" "plymouth-switch-root-initramfs.service" "poweroff.target" "reboot.target" ];
+        plymouth-switch-root.wantedBy = [ "initrd-switch-root.target" ];
+      };
+    };
+
+    # Insert required udev rules. We take stage 2 systemd because the udev
+    # rules are only generated when building with logind.
+    boot.initrd.services.udev.packages = [ (pkgs.runCommand "initrd-plymouth-udev-rules" {} ''
+      mkdir -p $out/etc/udev/rules.d
+      cp ${config.systemd.package.out}/lib/udev/rules.d/{70-uaccess,71-seat}.rules $out/etc/udev/rules.d
+      sed -i '/loginctl/d' $out/etc/udev/rules.d/71-seat.rules
+    '') ];
+
+    boot.initrd.extraUtilsCommands = lib.mkIf (!config.boot.initrd.systemd.enable) ''
       copy_bin_and_libs ${plymouth}/bin/plymouth
       copy_bin_and_libs ${plymouth}/bin/plymouthd
 
@@ -198,18 +282,18 @@ in
       EOF
     '';
 
-    boot.initrd.extraUtilsCommandsTest = ''
+    boot.initrd.extraUtilsCommandsTest = mkIf (!config.boot.initrd.enable) ''
       $out/bin/plymouthd --help >/dev/null
       $out/bin/plymouth --help >/dev/null
     '';
 
-    boot.initrd.extraUdevRulesCommands = ''
+    boot.initrd.extraUdevRulesCommands = mkIf (!config.boot.initrd.enable) ''
       cp ${config.systemd.package}/lib/udev/rules.d/{70-uaccess,71-seat}.rules $out
       sed -i '/loginctl/d' $out/71-seat.rules
     '';
 
     # We use `mkAfter` to ensure that LUKS password prompt would be shown earlier than the splash screen.
-    boot.initrd.preLVMCommands = mkAfter ''
+    boot.initrd.preLVMCommands = mkIf (!config.boot.initrd.enable) (mkAfter ''
       mkdir -p /etc/plymouth
       mkdir -p /run/plymouth
       ln -s ${configFile} /etc/plymouth/plymouthd.conf
@@ -221,16 +305,16 @@ in
 
       plymouthd --mode=boot --pid-file=/run/plymouth/pid --attach-to-session
       plymouth show-splash
-    '';
+    '');
 
-    boot.initrd.postMountCommands = ''
+    boot.initrd.postMountCommands = mkIf (!config.boot.initrd.enable) ''
       plymouth update-root-fs --new-root-dir="$targetRoot"
     '';
 
     # `mkBefore` to ensure that any custom prompts would be visible.
-    boot.initrd.preFailCommands = mkBefore ''
+    boot.initrd.preFailCommands = mkIf (!config.boot.initrd.enable) (mkBefore ''
       plymouth quit --wait
-    '';
+    '');
 
   };