diff --git a/nixos/doc/manual/development/writing-nixos-tests.xml b/nixos/doc/manual/development/writing-nixos-tests.xml
index 150bea8c2d8..ff37b3b2f6f 100644
--- a/nixos/doc/manual/development/writing-nixos-tests.xml
+++ b/nixos/doc/manual/development/writing-nixos-tests.xml
@@ -360,6 +360,18 @@ start_all()
      </note>
     </listitem>
    </varlistentry>
+   <varlistentry>
+    <term>
+     <methodname>wait_for_console_text</methodname>
+    </term>
+    <listitem>
+     <para>
+      Wait until the supplied regular expressions match a line of the serial
+      console output. This method is useful when OCR is not possibile or
+      accurate enough.
+     </para>
+    </listitem>
+   </varlistentry>
    <varlistentry>
     <term>
      <methodname>wait_for_window</methodname>
diff --git a/nixos/lib/test-driver/test-driver.py b/nixos/lib/test-driver/test-driver.py
index e7b05968b07..0c1946387ae 100644
--- a/nixos/lib/test-driver/test-driver.py
+++ b/nixos/lib/test-driver/test-driver.py
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@ from contextlib import contextmanager, _GeneratorContextManager
 from queue import Queue, Empty
 from typing import Tuple, Any, Callable, Dict, Iterator, Optional, List
 from xml.sax.saxutils import XMLGenerator
+import queue
+import io
 import _thread
 import atexit
 import base64
@@ -671,6 +673,22 @@ class Machine:
         with self.nested("waiting for {} to appear on screen".format(regex)):
             retry(screen_matches)
 
+    def wait_for_console_text(self, regex: str) -> None:
+        self.log("waiting for {} to appear on console".format(regex))
+        # Buffer the console output, this is needed
+        # to match multiline regexes.
+        console = io.StringIO()
+        while True:
+            try:
+                console.write(self.last_lines.get())
+            except queue.Empty:
+                self.sleep(1)
+                continue
+            console.seek(0)
+            matches = re.search(regex, console.read())
+            if matches is not None:
+                return
+
     def send_key(self, key: str) -> None:
         key = CHAR_TO_KEY.get(key, key)
         self.send_monitor_command("sendkey {}".format(key))
@@ -734,11 +752,16 @@ class Machine:
         self.monitor, _ = self.monitor_socket.accept()
         self.shell, _ = self.shell_socket.accept()
 
+        # Store last serial console lines for use
+        # of wait_for_console_text
+        self.last_lines: Queue = Queue()
+
         def process_serial_output() -> None:
             assert self.process.stdout is not None
             for _line in self.process.stdout:
                 # Ignore undecodable bytes that may occur in boot menus
                 line = _line.decode(errors="ignore").replace("\r", "").rstrip()
+                self.last_lines.put(line)
                 eprint("{} # {}".format(self.name, line))
                 self.logger.enqueue({"msg": line, "machine": self.name})