diff --git a/nixos/tests/all-tests.nix b/nixos/tests/all-tests.nix
index 60762de76d33..e2c62cd306d1 100644
--- a/nixos/tests/all-tests.nix
+++ b/nixos/tests/all-tests.nix
@@ -204,6 +204,7 @@ in
   # openstack-image-userdata doesn't work in a sandbox as the simulated openstack instance needs network access
   #openstack-image-userdata = (handleTestOn ["x86_64-linux"] ./openstack-image.nix {}).userdata or {};
   openstack-image-metadata = (handleTestOn ["x86_64-linux"] ./openstack-image.nix {}).metadata or {};
+  os-prober = handleTestOn ["x86_64-linux"] ./os-prober.nix {};
   osquery = handleTest ./osquery.nix {};
   osrm-backend = handleTest ./osrm-backend.nix {};
   ostree = handleTest ./ostree.nix {};
diff --git a/nixos/tests/os-prober.nix b/nixos/tests/os-prober.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..9cd9f4ecd150
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nixos/tests/os-prober.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,119 @@
+import ./make-test.nix ({pkgs, lib, ...}:
+let
+  # A filesystem image with a (presumably) bootable debian
+  debianImage = pkgs.vmTools.diskImageFuns.debian9i386 {
+    # os-prober cannot detect systems installed on disks without a partition table
+    # so we create the disk ourselves
+    createRootFS = with pkgs; ''
+      ${parted}/bin/parted --script /dev/vda mklabel msdos
+      ${parted}/sbin/parted --script /dev/vda -- mkpart primary ext2 1M -1s
+      mkdir /mnt
+      ${e2fsprogs}/bin/mkfs.ext4 /dev/vda1
+      ${utillinux}/bin/mount -t ext4 /dev/vda1 /mnt
+
+      if test -e /mnt/.debug; then
+        exec ${bash}/bin/sh
+      fi
+      touch /mnt/.debug
+
+      mkdir /mnt/proc /mnt/dev /mnt/sys
+    '';
+    extraPackages = [
+      # /etc/os-release
+      "base-files"
+      # make the disk bootable-looking
+      "grub2" "linux-image-686"
+    ];
+    # install grub
+    postInstall = ''
+      ln -sf /proc/self/mounts > /etc/mtab
+      PATH=/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin $chroot /mnt \
+        grub-install /dev/vda --force
+      PATH=/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin $chroot /mnt \
+        update-grub
+    '';
+  };
+
+  # options to add the disk to the test vm
+  QEMU_OPTS = "-drive index=2,file=${debianImage}/disk-image.qcow2,read-only,if=virtio";
+
+  # a part of the configuration of the test vm
+  simpleConfig = {
+    boot.loader.grub = {
+      enable = true;
+      useOSProber = true;
+      device = "/dev/vda";
+      # vda is a filesystem without partition table
+      forceInstall = true;
+    };
+    nix.binaryCaches = lib.mkForce [ ];
+    nix.extraOptions = ''
+      hashed-mirrors =
+      connect-timeout = 1
+    '';
+    services.udisks2.enable = lib.mkForce false;
+  };
+  # /etc/nixos/configuration.nix for the vm
+  configFile = pkgs.writeText "configuration.nix"  ''
+    {config, pkgs, ...}: ({
+    imports = 
+          [ ./hardware-configuration.nix
+            <nixpkgs/nixos/modules/testing/test-instrumentation.nix>
+          ];
+    } // (builtins.fromJSON (builtins.readFile ${
+      pkgs.writeText "simpleConfig.json" (builtins.toJSON simpleConfig)
+    })))
+  '';
+in {
+  name = "os-prober";
+
+  machine = { config, pkgs, ... }: (simpleConfig // {
+      imports = [ ../modules/profiles/installation-device.nix
+                  ../modules/profiles/base.nix ];
+      virtualisation.memorySize = 1024;
+      # The test cannot access the network, so any packages
+      # nixos-rebuild needs must be included in the VM.
+      system.extraDependencies = with pkgs;
+        [ sudo
+          libxml2.bin
+          libxslt.bin
+          desktop-file-utils
+          docbook5
+          docbook_xsl_ns
+          unionfs-fuse
+          ntp
+          nixos-artwork.wallpapers.simple-dark-gray-bottom
+          perlPackages.XMLLibXML
+          perlPackages.ListCompare
+          shared-mime-info
+          texinfo
+          xorg.lndir
+          grub2
+
+          # add curl so that rather than seeing the test attempt to download
+          # curl's tarball, we see what it's trying to download
+          curl
+        ];
+  });
+
+  testScript = ''
+    # hack to add the secondary disk
+    $machine->{startCommand} = "QEMU_OPTS=\"\$QEMU_OPTS \"${lib.escapeShellArg QEMU_OPTS} ".$machine->{startCommand};
+
+    $machine->start;
+    $machine->succeed("udevadm settle");
+    $machine->waitForUnit("multi-user.target");
+
+    # check that os-prober works standalone
+    $machine->succeed("${pkgs.os-prober}/bin/os-prober | grep /dev/vdb1");
+
+    # rebuild and test that debian is available in the grub menu
+    $machine->succeed("nixos-generate-config");
+    $machine->copyFileFromHost(
+        "${configFile}",
+        "/etc/nixos/configuration.nix");
+    $machine->succeed("nixos-rebuild boot >&2");
+
+    $machine->succeed("egrep 'menuentry.*debian' /boot/grub/grub.cfg");
+  '';
+})
diff --git a/pkgs/build-support/vm/default.nix b/pkgs/build-support/vm/default.nix
index 371ab13c5281..335cab7c45e1 100644
--- a/pkgs/build-support/vm/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/build-support/vm/default.nix
@@ -719,7 +719,7 @@ rec {
     { name, fullName, size ? 4096, urlPrefix
     , packagesList ? "", packagesLists ? [packagesList]
     , packages, extraPackages ? [], postInstall ? ""
-    , extraDebs ? []
+    , extraDebs ? [], createRootFS ? defaultCreateRootFS
     , QEMU_OPTS ? "", memSize ? 512 }:
 
     let
@@ -729,7 +729,7 @@ rec {
       };
     in
       (fillDiskWithDebs {
-        inherit name fullName size postInstall QEMU_OPTS memSize;
+        inherit name fullName size postInstall createRootFS QEMU_OPTS memSize;
         debs = import expr {inherit fetchurl;} ++ extraDebs;
       }) // {inherit expr;};
 
diff --git a/pkgs/tools/misc/os-prober/default.nix b/pkgs/tools/misc/os-prober/default.nix
index 78426329975c..d68ed9c5cd39 100644
--- a/pkgs/tools/misc/os-prober/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/tools/misc/os-prober/default.nix
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-{ stdenv, fetchurl, makeWrapper,
+{ stdenv, fetchFromGitLab, makeWrapper, nixosTests,
 # optional dependencies, the command(s) they provide
 coreutils,  # mktemp
 grub2,      # grub-mount and grub-probe
@@ -9,11 +9,14 @@ ntfs3g      # ntfs3g
 }:
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
-  version = "1.76";
+  version = "1.77";
   pname = "os-prober";
-  src = fetchurl {
-    url = "https://salsa.debian.org/philh/os-prober/-/archive/${version}/os-prober-${version}.tar.bz2";
-    sha256 = "07rw3092pckh21vx6y4hzqcn3wn4cqmwxaaiq100lncnhmszg11g";
+  src = fetchFromGitLab {
+    domain = "salsa.debian.org";
+    owner = "installer-team";
+    repo = pname;
+    rev = version;
+    sha256 = "05sji756xdl67pp2sf7rk0ih9h6f6kgk9nvxlyv1bzbmcizlh2d2";
   };
 
   buildInputs = [ makeWrapper ];
@@ -56,6 +59,9 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     done;
   '';
 
+  passthru.tests = {
+    os-prober = nixosTests.os-prober;
+  };
   meta = with stdenv.lib; {
     description = "Utility to detect other OSs on a set of drives";
     homepage = http://packages.debian.org/source/sid/os-prober;