diff --git a/doc/manual/troubleshooting.xml b/doc/manual/troubleshooting.xml
index 4d5c5994fc8..2961f8e1233 100644
--- a/doc/manual/troubleshooting.xml
+++ b/doc/manual/troubleshooting.xml
@@ -16,14 +16,14 @@ systemd:
 
 <variablelist>
 
-  <varlistentry><term><literal>initrd.shell_on_fail</literal></term>
+  <varlistentry><term><literal>boot.shell_on_fail</literal></term>
     <listitem><para>Start a root shell if something goes wrong in
     stage 1 of the boot process (the initial ramdisk).  This is
     disabled by default because there is no authentication for the
     root shell.</para></listitem>
   </varlistentry>
 
-  <varlistentry><term><literal>debug1</literal></term>
+  <varlistentry><term><literal>boot.debug1</literal></term>
     <listitem><para>Start an interactive shell in stage 1 before
     anything useful has been done.  That is, no modules have been
     loaded and no file systems have been mounted, except for
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ systemd:
     <filename>/sys</filename>.</para></listitem>
   </varlistentry>
 
-  <varlistentry><term><literal>debugtrace</literal></term>
+  <varlistentry><term><literal>boot.trace</literal></term>
     <listitem><para>Print every shell command executed by the stage 1
     and 2 boot scripts.</para></listitem>
   </varlistentry>
diff --git a/modules/profiles/headless.nix b/modules/profiles/headless.nix
index 3446654bc6f..593bd925b00 100644
--- a/modules/profiles/headless.nix
+++ b/modules/profiles/headless.nix
@@ -16,5 +16,5 @@ with pkgs.lib;
   boot.systemd.services."serial-getty@hvc0".enable = false;
 
   # Since we can't manually respond to a panic, just reboot.
-  boot.kernelParams = [ "panic=1" "stage1panic=1" ];
+  boot.kernelParams = [ "panic=1" "boot.panic_on_fail" ];
 }
diff --git a/modules/system/boot/kernel.nix b/modules/system/boot/kernel.nix
index 3637378d4d1..6cf9311e471 100644
--- a/modules/system/boot/kernel.nix
+++ b/modules/system/boot/kernel.nix
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ in
 
     boot.extraKernelParams = mkOption {
       default = [ ];
-      example = [ "debugtrace" ];
+      example = [ "boot.trace" ];
       description = "Additional user-defined kernel parameters.";
     };
 
diff --git a/modules/system/boot/stage-1-init.sh b/modules/system/boot/stage-1-init.sh
index c1e46956f6e..9bcbe291aad 100644
--- a/modules/system/boot/stage-1-init.sh
+++ b/modules/system/boot/stage-1-init.sh
@@ -81,26 +81,26 @@ for o in $(cat /proc/cmdline); do
             set -- $(IFS==; echo $o)
             stage2Init=$2
             ;;
-        debugtrace)
+        boot.trace|debugtrace)
             # Show each command.
             set -x
             ;;
-        initrd.shell_on_fail)
+        boot.shell_on_fail)
             allowShell=1
             ;;
-        debug1) # stop right away
+        boot.debug1|debug1) # stop right away
             allowShell=1
             fail
             ;;
-        debug1devices) # stop after loading modules and creating device nodes
+        boot.debug1devices) # stop after loading modules and creating device nodes
             allowShell=1
             debug1devices=1
             ;;
-        debug1mounts) # stop after mounting file systems
+        boot.debug1mounts) # stop after mounting file systems
             allowShell=1
             debug1mounts=1
             ;;
-        stage1panic=1)
+        boot.panic_on_fail|stage1panic=1)
             panicOnFail=1
             ;;
         root=*)
diff --git a/modules/system/boot/stage-2-init.sh b/modules/system/boot/stage-2-init.sh
index 0ad9982e430..5447ce0c502 100644
--- a/modules/system/boot/stage-2-init.sh
+++ b/modules/system/boot/stage-2-init.sh
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ ln -s /proc/mounts /etc/mtab
 # Process the kernel command line.
 for o in $(cat /proc/cmdline); do
     case $o in
-        debugtrace)
+        boot.debugtrace)
             # Show each command.
             set -x
             ;;
diff --git a/modules/testing/test-instrumentation.nix b/modules/testing/test-instrumentation.nix
index 0ee3ad65a3d..108dcb0ab6d 100644
--- a/modules/testing/test-instrumentation.nix
+++ b/modules/testing/test-instrumentation.nix
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ let kernel = config.boot.kernelPackages.kernel; in
     # Panic if an error occurs in stage 1 (rather than waiting for
     # user intervention).
     boot.kernelParams =
-      [ "console=tty1" "console=ttyS0" "panic=1" "stage1panic=1" ];
+      [ "console=tty1" "console=ttyS0" "panic=1" "boot.panic_on_fail" ];
 
     # `xwininfo' is used by the test driver to query open windows.
     environment.systemPackages = [ pkgs.xorg.xwininfo ];