diff --git a/modules/module-list.nix b/modules/module-list.nix
index 861039d7391..cb1a19b4dfc 100644
--- a/modules/module-list.nix
+++ b/modules/module-list.nix
@@ -121,6 +121,7 @@
   ./system/activation/activation-script.nix
   ./system/activation/top-level.nix
   ./system/boot/kernel.nix
+  ./system/boot/modprobe.nix
   ./system/boot/stage-1.nix
   ./system/boot/stage-2.nix
   ./system/etc/etc.nix
diff --git a/modules/system/boot/kernel.nix b/modules/system/boot/kernel.nix
index ea6f2812485..d7facd76519 100644
--- a/modules/system/boot/kernel.nix
+++ b/modules/system/boot/kernel.nix
@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
-{pkgs, config, ...}:
+{ config, pkgs, ... }:
+
+with pkgs.lib;
 
 ###### interface
 let
-  inherit (pkgs.lib) mkOption;
 
   options = {
     boot = {
@@ -148,31 +149,12 @@ let
         built outside of the kernel.  Combine these into a single tree of
         symlinks because modprobe only supports one directory.
       ";
-      merge = pkgs.lib.mergeListOption;
+      merge = mergeListOption;
 
       # Convert the list of path to only one path.
       apply = pkgs.aggregateModules;
     };
 
-    system.sbin.modprobe = mkOption {
-      # should be moved in module-init-tools
-      internal = true;
-      default = pkgs.writeTextFile {
-        name = "modprobe";
-        destination = "/sbin/modprobe";
-        executable = true;
-        text =
-          ''
-            #! ${pkgs.stdenv.shell}
-            export MODULE_DIR=${config.system.modulesTree}/lib/modules
-            exec ${pkgs.module_init_tools}/sbin/modprobe "$@"
-          '';
-      };
-      description = ''
-        Wrapper around modprobe that sets the path to the modules
-        tree.
-      '';
-    };
   };
   
 in
diff --git a/modules/system/boot/modprobe.nix b/modules/system/boot/modprobe.nix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..919a08f22ba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modules/system/boot/modprobe.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,80 @@
+{ config, pkgs, ... }:
+
+with pkgs.lib;
+
+# blacklist "cirrusfb" "i2c_piix4"
+
+{
+
+  ###### interface
+
+  options = {
+
+    system.sbin.modprobe = mkOption {
+      # should be moved in module-init-tools
+      internal = true;
+      default = pkgs.writeTextFile {
+        name = "modprobe";
+        destination = "/sbin/modprobe";
+        executable = true;
+        text =
+          ''
+            #! ${pkgs.stdenv.shell}
+            export MODULE_DIR=${config.system.modulesTree}/lib/modules
+            exec ${pkgs.module_init_tools}/sbin/modprobe "$@"
+          '';
+      };
+      description = ''
+        Wrapper around modprobe that sets the path to the modules
+        tree.
+      '';
+    };
+
+    boot.blacklistedKernelModules = mkOption {
+      default = [];
+      example = [ "cirrusfb" "i2c_piix4" ];
+      description = ''
+        List of names of kernel modules that should not be loaded
+        automatically by the hardware probing code.
+      '';
+    };
+  
+    boot.extraModprobeConfig = mkOption {
+      default = "";
+      example =
+        ''
+          options parport_pc io=0x378 irq=7 dma=1
+        '';
+      description = ''
+        Any additional configuration to be appended to the generated
+        <filename>modprobe.conf</filename>.  This is typically used to
+        specify module options.  See
+        <citerefentry><refentrytitle>modprobe.conf</refentrytitle>
+        <manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry> for details.
+      '';
+    };
+  
+  };
+
+
+  ###### implementation
+
+  config = {
+
+    environment.etc = singleton
+      { source = pkgs.writeText "modprobe.conf"
+          ''
+            ${flip concatMapStrings config.boot.blacklistedKernelModules (name: ''
+              blacklist ${name}
+            '')}
+            ${config.boot.extraModprobeConfig}
+          '';
+        target = "modprobe.conf";
+      };
+
+  };
+
+}
+
+
+        
\ No newline at end of file