diff --git a/nixos/lib/qemu-common.nix b/nixos/lib/qemu-common.nix
index fc3dcb24ab9c..3f4d674e9a93 100644
--- a/nixos/lib/qemu-common.nix
+++ b/nixos/lib/qemu-common.nix
@@ -4,29 +4,61 @@
 let
   zeroPad = n:
     lib.optionalString (n < 16) "0" +
-      (if n > 255
-       then throw "Can't have more than 255 nets or nodes!"
-       else lib.toHexString n);
+    (if n > 255
+    then throw "Can't have more than 255 nets or nodes!"
+    else lib.toHexString n);
 in
 
 rec {
   qemuNicMac = net: machine: "52:54:00:12:${zeroPad net}:${zeroPad machine}";
 
   qemuNICFlags = nic: net: machine:
-    [ "-device virtio-net-pci,netdev=vlan${toString nic},mac=${qemuNicMac net machine}"
+    [
+      "-device virtio-net-pci,netdev=vlan${toString nic},mac=${qemuNicMac net machine}"
       ''-netdev vde,id=vlan${toString nic},sock="$QEMU_VDE_SOCKET_${toString net}"''
     ];
 
-  qemuSerialDevice = if pkgs.stdenv.hostPlatform.isx86 || pkgs.stdenv.hostPlatform.isRiscV then "ttyS0"
-        else if (with pkgs.stdenv.hostPlatform; isAarch || isPower) then "ttyAMA0"
-        else throw "Unknown QEMU serial device for system '${pkgs.stdenv.hostPlatform.system}'";
+  qemuSerialDevice =
+    if pkgs.stdenv.hostPlatform.isx86 || pkgs.stdenv.hostPlatform.isRiscV then "ttyS0"
+    else if (with pkgs.stdenv.hostPlatform; isAarch || isPower) then "ttyAMA0"
+    else throw "Unknown QEMU serial device for system '${pkgs.stdenv.hostPlatform.system}'";
 
-  qemuBinary = qemuPkg: {
-    x86_64-linux = "${qemuPkg}/bin/qemu-kvm -cpu max";
-    armv7l-linux = "${qemuPkg}/bin/qemu-system-arm -machine virt,accel=kvm:tcg -cpu max";
-    aarch64-linux = "${qemuPkg}/bin/qemu-system-aarch64 -machine virt,gic-version=max,accel=kvm:tcg -cpu max";
-    powerpc64le-linux = "${qemuPkg}/bin/qemu-system-ppc64 -machine powernv";
-    powerpc64-linux = "${qemuPkg}/bin/qemu-system-ppc64 -machine powernv";
-    x86_64-darwin = "${qemuPkg}/bin/qemu-kvm -cpu max";
-  }.${pkgs.stdenv.hostPlatform.system} or "${qemuPkg}/bin/qemu-kvm";
+  qemuBinary = qemuPkg:
+    let
+      hostStdenv = qemuPkg.stdenv;
+      hostSystem = hostStdenv.system;
+      guestSystem = pkgs.stdenv.hostPlatform.system;
+
+      linuxHostGuestMatrix = {
+        x86_64-linux = "${qemuPkg}/bin/qemu-kvm -cpu max";
+        armv7l-linux = "${qemuPkg}/bin/qemu-system-arm -machine virt,accel=kvm:tcg -cpu max";
+        aarch64-linux = "${qemuPkg}/bin/qemu-system-aarch64 -machine virt,gic-version=max,accel=kvm:tcg -cpu max";
+        powerpc64le-linux = "${qemuPkg}/bin/qemu-system-ppc64 -machine powernv";
+        powerpc64-linux = "${qemuPkg}/bin/qemu-system-ppc64 -machine powernv";
+        x86_64-darwin = "${qemuPkg}/bin/qemu-kvm -cpu max";
+      };
+      otherHostGuestMatrix = {
+        aarch64-darwin = {
+          aarch64-linux = "${qemuPkg}/bin/qemu-system-aarch64 -machine virt,gic-version=2,accel=hvf:tcg -cpu max";
+        };
+        x86_64-darwin = {
+          x86_64-linux = "${qemuPkg}/bin/qemu-system-x86_64 -machine type=q35,accel=hvf:tcg -cpu max";
+        };
+      };
+
+      throwUnsupportedHostSystem =
+        let
+          supportedSystems = [ "linux" ] ++ (lib.attrNames otherHostGuestMatrix);
+        in
+        throw "Unsupported host system ${hostSystem}, supported: ${lib.concatStringsSep ", " supportedSystems}";
+      throwUnsupportedGuestSystem = guestMap:
+        throw "Unsupported guest system ${guestSystem} for host ${hostSystem}, supported: ${lib.concatStringsSep ", " (lib.attrNames guestMap)}";
+    in
+    if hostStdenv.isLinux then
+      linuxHostGuestMatrix.${guestSystem} or "${qemuPkg}/bin/qemu-kvm"
+    else
+      let
+        guestMap = (otherHostGuestMatrix.${hostSystem} or throwUnsupportedHostSystem);
+      in
+      (guestMap.${guestSystem} or (throwUnsupportedGuestSystem guestMap));
 }
diff --git a/nixos/modules/virtualisation/qemu-vm.nix b/nixos/modules/virtualisation/qemu-vm.nix
index 28eb2c88fc00..bdbcae1db55c 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/virtualisation/qemu-vm.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/virtualisation/qemu-vm.nix
@@ -102,7 +102,9 @@ let
   # Shell script to start the VM.
   startVM =
     ''
-      #! ${pkgs.runtimeShell}
+      #! ${cfg.host.pkgs.runtimeShell}
+
+      export PATH=${makeBinPath [ cfg.host.pkgs.coreutils ]}''${PATH:+:}$PATH
 
       set -e
 
@@ -574,11 +576,24 @@ in
         description = "Primary IP address used in /etc/hosts.";
       };
 
+    virtualisation.host.pkgs = mkOption {
+      type = options.nixpkgs.pkgs.type;
+      default = pkgs;
+      defaultText = "pkgs";
+      example = literalExpression ''
+        import pkgs.path { system = "x86_64-darwin"; }
+      '';
+      description = ''
+        pkgs set to use for the host-specific packages of the vm runner.
+        Changing this to e.g. a Darwin package set allows running NixOS VMs on Darwin.
+      '';
+    };
+
     virtualisation.qemu = {
       package =
         mkOption {
           type = types.package;
-          default = pkgs.qemu_kvm;
+          default = cfg.host.pkgs.qemu_kvm;
           example = "pkgs.qemu_test";
           description = lib.mdDoc "QEMU package to use.";
         };
@@ -1075,14 +1090,14 @@ in
 
     services.qemuGuest.enable = cfg.qemu.guestAgent.enable;
 
-    system.build.vm = pkgs.runCommand "nixos-vm" {
+    system.build.vm = cfg.host.pkgs.runCommand "nixos-vm" {
       preferLocalBuild = true;
       meta.mainProgram = "run-${config.system.name}-vm";
     }
       ''
         mkdir -p $out/bin
         ln -s ${config.system.build.toplevel} $out/system
-        ln -s ${pkgs.writeScript "run-nixos-vm" startVM} $out/bin/run-${config.system.name}-vm
+        ln -s ${cfg.host.pkgs.writeScript "run-nixos-vm" startVM} $out/bin/run-${config.system.name}-vm
       '';
 
     # When building a regular system configuration, override whatever