diff --git a/boot.sh b/boot.sh
index 4bdcdfb..adc71ee 100755
--- a/boot.sh
+++ b/boot.sh
@@ -8,7 +8,11 @@ CDIR=$(readlink -f "$PWD")
 NIX_DISK_IMAGE=$(readlink -f "${NIX_DISK_IMAGE:-./nixos-riscv.qcow2}")
 
 if ! test -e "$NIX_DISK_IMAGE"; then
-    qemu-img create -f qcow2 "$NIX_DISK_IMAGE" 1024M
+  size=1024M
+  qemu-img create -f raw "$NIX_DISK_IMAGE.raw" "$size"
+  mkfs.ext4 -L nixos "$NIX_DISK_IMAGE.raw"
+  qemu-img convert -f raw -O qcow2 "$NIX_DISK_IMAGE.raw" "$NIX_DISK_IMAGE"
+  rm "$NIX_DISK_IMAGE.raw"
 fi
 
 echo "NIX_DISK_IMAGE = $NIX_DISK_IMAGE"
diff --git a/flake.nix b/flake.nix
index b7ed0a8..a119f39 100644
--- a/flake.nix
+++ b/flake.nix
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@
       toplevel = nixosconf.config.system.build.toplevel;
     in pkgs.mkShell {
       pname = "qemu-shell";
-      buildInputs = with pkgs; [ qemu ];
+      buildInputs = with pkgs; [ qemu e2fsprogs ];
       # Here we tell the run script where to find the system
       NIXOS_SYSTEM_TOPLEVEL = toplevel;
       OPENSBI = syspkgs.opensbi-uboot;
diff --git a/vm.nix b/vm.nix
index 8a30d99..e77b791 100644
--- a/vm.nix
+++ b/vm.nix
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@
     };
   };
 
-  virtualisation.diskImage = null;
+  #virtualisation.diskImage = null;
 
   # FIXME: Broken as rustc injects compressed instructions.
   # For now we disable it.