diff --git a/boot/boot-stage-1-init.sh b/boot/boot-stage-1-init.sh
index f1cad685e357..3e024d17ccfe 100644
--- a/boot/boot-stage-1-init.sh
+++ b/boot/boot-stage-1-init.sh
@@ -73,15 +73,20 @@ if test -n "@autoDetectRootDevice@"; then
     # Look for the root device by label.
     echo "probing for the NixOS installation CD..."
 
-    for i in /sys/devices/*/*/media; do
-        if test "$(cat $i)" = "cdrom"; then
+    for i in /sys/block/*; do
+        if test "$(cat $i/removable)" = "1"; then
 
-            # Hopefully `drivename' matches the device created in /dev.
-            devName=/dev/$(cat $(dirname $i)/drivename)
+            echo "  in $(basename $i)..."
 
-            echo "  in $devName..."
+            set -- $(IFS=: ; echo $(cat $i/dev))
+            major="$1"
+            minor="$2"
 
-            if mount -n -o ro -t iso9660 $devName /mnt/root; then
+            # Create a device node for this device.
+            rm -f /dev/tmpdev
+            mknod /dev/tmpdev b "$major" "$minor"
+
+            if mount -n -o ro -t iso9660 /dev/tmpdev /mnt/root; then
                 if test -e "/mnt/root/@rootLabel@"; then
                     found=1
                     break
diff --git a/boot/make-devices.sh b/boot/make-devices.sh
index 406aeacbe50c..4e4f80b3fb31 100644
--- a/boot/make-devices.sh
+++ b/boot/make-devices.sh
@@ -13,30 +13,3 @@ mknod -m 0600 /dev/tty c 5 0
 if ! test -e /dev/console; then
     mknod -m 0600 /dev/console c 5 1
 fi
-
-mknod -m 0660 /dev/hda b 3 0
-mknod -m 0660 /dev/hda1 b 3 1
-mknod -m 0660 /dev/hda2 b 3 2
-mknod -m 0660 /dev/hda3 b 3 3
-
-mknod -m 0660 /dev/hdb b 3 64
-mknod -m 0660 /dev/hdb1 b 3 65
-mknod -m 0660 /dev/hdb2 b 3 66
-mknod -m 0660 /dev/hdb3 b 3 67
-
-mknod -m 0660 /dev/hdc b 22 0
-mknod -m 0660 /dev/hdc1 b 22 1
-mknod -m 0660 /dev/hdc2 b 22 2
-mknod -m 0660 /dev/hdc3 b 22 3
-
-mknod -m 0660 /dev/hdd b 22 64
-mknod -m 0660 /dev/hdd1 b 22 65
-mknod -m 0660 /dev/hdd2 b 22 66
-mknod -m 0660 /dev/hdd3 b 22 67
-
-mknod -m 0660 /dev/sda b 8 0
-mknod -m 0660 /dev/sda1 b 8 1
-mknod -m 0660 /dev/sda2 b 8 2
-mknod -m 0660 /dev/sda3 b 8 3
-
-mknod -m 0660 /dev/sr0 b 11 0