diff --git a/nixos/doc/manual/man-nixos-install.xml b/nixos/doc/manual/man-nixos-install.xml
index 45bbd5d81ff0..93082f914bee 100644
--- a/nixos/doc/manual/man-nixos-install.xml
+++ b/nixos/doc/manual/man-nixos-install.xml
@@ -14,6 +14,26 @@
  <refsynopsisdiv>
   <cmdsynopsis>
    <command>nixos-install</command>
+   <arg>
+    <group choice='req'>
+     <arg choice='plain'>
+      <option>--verbose</option>
+     </arg>
+     <arg choice='plain'>
+      <option>-v</option>
+     </arg>
+    </group>
+   </arg>
+   <arg>
+    <group choice='req'>
+     <arg choice='plain'>
+      <option>--print-build-logs</option>
+     </arg>
+     <arg choice='plain'>
+      <option>-L</option>
+     </arg>
+    </group>
+   </arg>
    <arg>
     <arg choice='plain'>
      <option>-I</option>
@@ -134,6 +154,23 @@
    This command accepts the following options:
   </para>
   <variablelist>
+   <varlistentry>
+    <term><option>--verbose</option> / <option>-v</option></term>
+    <listitem>
+     <para>Increases the level of verbosity of diagnostic messages
+     printed on standard error.  For each Nix operation, the information
+     printed on standard output is well-defined; any diagnostic
+     information is printed on standard error, never on standard
+     output.</para>
+     <para>Please note that this option may be specified repeatedly.</para>
+    </listitem>
+   </varlistentry>
+   <varlistentry>
+    <term><option>--print-build-logs</option> / <option>-L</option></term>
+    <listitem>
+     <para>Print the full build logs of <command>nix build</command> to stderr.</para>
+    </listitem>
+   </varlistentry>
    <varlistentry>
     <term>
      <option>--root</option>
diff --git a/nixos/modules/installer/tools/nixos-install.sh b/nixos/modules/installer/tools/nixos-install.sh
index 8685cb345e1e..a3ff3fe2c0c1 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/installer/tools/nixos-install.sh
+++ b/nixos/modules/installer/tools/nixos-install.sh
@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@ extraBuildFlags=()
 mountPoint=/mnt
 channelPath=
 system=
+verbosity=()
+buildLogs=
 
 while [ "$#" -gt 0 ]; do
     i="$1"; shift 1
@@ -55,6 +57,12 @@ while [ "$#" -gt 0 ]; do
         --debug)
             set -x
             ;;
+        -v*|--verbose)
+            verbosity+=("$i")
+            ;;
+        -L|--print-build-logs)
+            buildLogs="$i"
+            ;;
         *)
             echo "$0: unknown option \`$i'"
             exit 1
@@ -94,7 +102,7 @@ if [[ -z $system ]]; then
     outLink="$tmpdir/system"
     nix build --out-link "$outLink" --store "$mountPoint" "${extraBuildFlags[@]}" \
         --extra-substituters "$sub" \
-        -f '<nixpkgs/nixos>' system -I "nixos-config=$NIXOS_CONFIG"
+        -f '<nixpkgs/nixos>' system -I "nixos-config=$NIXOS_CONFIG" ${verbosity[@]} ${buildLogs}
     system=$(readlink -f $outLink)
 fi
 
@@ -103,7 +111,7 @@ fi
 # a progress bar.
 nix-env --store "$mountPoint" "${extraBuildFlags[@]}" \
         --extra-substituters "$sub" \
-        -p $mountPoint/nix/var/nix/profiles/system --set "$system"
+        -p $mountPoint/nix/var/nix/profiles/system --set "$system" ${verbosity[@]}
 
 # Copy the NixOS/Nixpkgs sources to the target as the initial contents
 # of the NixOS channel.
@@ -115,7 +123,8 @@ if [[ -z $noChannelCopy ]]; then
         echo "copying channel..."
         mkdir -p $mountPoint/nix/var/nix/profiles/per-user/root
         nix-env --store "$mountPoint" "${extraBuildFlags[@]}" --extra-substituters "$sub" \
-                -p $mountPoint/nix/var/nix/profiles/per-user/root/channels --set "$channelPath" --quiet
+                -p $mountPoint/nix/var/nix/profiles/per-user/root/channels --set "$channelPath" --quiet \
+                ${verbosity[@]}
         install -m 0700 -d $mountPoint/root/.nix-defexpr
         ln -sfn /nix/var/nix/profiles/per-user/root/channels $mountPoint/root/.nix-defexpr/channels
     fi