diff --git a/nixos/modules/image/file-options.nix b/nixos/modules/image/file-options.nix
index dff30e7408af..4a6b377111a0 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/image/file-options.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/image/file-options.nix
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
     baseName = lib.mkOption {
       type = lib.types.str;
       default = "nixos-image-${config.system.nixos.label}-${pkgs.stdenv.hostPlatform.system}";
+      defaultText = lib.literalExpression "nixos-image-\${config.system.nixos.label}-\${pkgs.stdenv.hostPlatform.system}";
       description = ''
         Basename of the image filename without any extension (e.g. `image_1`).
       '';
@@ -29,6 +30,7 @@
     fileName = lib.mkOption {
       type = lib.types.str;
       default = "${config.image.baseName}.${config.image.extension}";
+      defaultText = lib.literalExpression "\${config.image.baseName}.\${config.image.extension}";
       description = ''
         Filename of the image including all extensions (e.g `image_1.raw` or
         `image_1.raw.zst`).
@@ -38,6 +40,7 @@
     filePath = lib.mkOption {
       type = lib.types.str;
       default = config.image.fileName;
+      defaultText = lib.literalExpression "config.image.fileName";
       description = ''
         Path of the image, relative to `$out` in `system.build.image`.
         While it defaults to `config.image.fileName`, it can be different for builders where