diff --git a/nixos/modules/virtualisation/qemu-vm.nix b/nixos/modules/virtualisation/qemu-vm.nix
index d2a17664e9a1..7b9b5086dbb9 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/virtualisation/qemu-vm.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/virtualisation/qemu-vm.nix
@@ -325,11 +325,15 @@ let
     OVMF = cfg.efi.OVMF;
   };
 
+  virtualisationOptions = import ./virtualisation-options.nix;
+
 in
 
 {
   imports = [
+    ./virtualisation-options.nix
     ../profiles/qemu-guest.nix
+    virtualisationOptions.diskSize
     (mkRenamedOptionModule
       [
         "virtualisation"
@@ -385,14 +389,6 @@ in
       '';
     };
 
-    virtualisation.diskSize = mkOption {
-      type = types.ints.positive;
-      default = 1024;
-      description = ''
-        The disk size in megabytes of the virtual machine.
-      '';
-    };
-
     virtualisation.diskImage = mkOption {
       type = types.nullOr types.str;
       default = "./${config.system.name}.qcow2";
@@ -1238,6 +1234,8 @@ in
     # override by setting `virtualisation.fileSystems = lib.mkForce { };`.
     fileSystems = lib.mkIf (cfg.fileSystems != { }) (mkVMOverride cfg.fileSystems);
 
+    virtualisation.diskSizeAutoSupported = false;
+
     virtualisation.fileSystems =
       let
         mkSharedDir = tag: share: {
diff --git a/nixos/modules/virtualisation/virtualisation-options.nix b/nixos/modules/virtualisation/virtualisation-options.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..5040a7916d84
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nixos/modules/virtualisation/virtualisation-options.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+# This modules declares shared options for virtual machines,
+# containers and anything else in `virtualisation`.
+#
+# This is useful to declare e.g. defaults for
+# `virtualisation.diskSize` once, while building multiple
+# different image formats of a NixOS configuration.
+#
+# Additional options can be migrated over time from
+# `modules/virtualisation/qemu-vm.nix` and others.
+# Please keep defaults and descriptions here generic
+# and independent of i.e. hypervisor-specific notes
+# and defaults where.
+# Those can be added in the consuming modules where needed.
+# needed.
+let
+  _file = ./virtualisation-options.nix;
+  key = _file;
+in
+{
+  diskSize =
+    { lib, config, ... }:
+    let
+      t = lib.types;
+    in
+    {
+      inherit _file key;
+
+      options = {
+        virtualisation.diskSizeAutoSupported = lib.mkOption {
+          type = t.bool;
+          default = true;
+          description = ''
+            Whether the current image builder or vm runner supports `virtualisation.diskSize = "auto".`
+          '';
+          internal = true;
+        };
+
+        virtualisation.diskSize = lib.mkOption {
+          type = t.either (t.enum [ "auto" ]) t.ints.positive;
+          default = "auto";
+          description = ''
+            The disk size in megabytes of the virtual machine.
+          '';
+        };
+      };
+
+      config =
+        let
+          inherit (config.virtualisation) diskSize diskSizeAutoSupported;
+        in
+        {
+          assertions = [
+            {
+              assertion = diskSize != "auto" || diskSizeAutoSupported;
+              message = "Setting virtualisation.diskSize to `auto` is not supported by the current image build or vm runner; use an explicit size.";
+            }
+          ];
+        };
+    };
+}