diff --git a/nixos/modules/tasks/network-interfaces.nix b/nixos/modules/tasks/network-interfaces.nix
index 807a56a32d2c..4a272483e549 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/tasks/network-interfaces.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/tasks/network-interfaces.nix
@@ -233,8 +233,12 @@ in
         The 32-bit host ID of the machine, formatted as 8 hexadecimal characters.
 
         You should try to make this ID unique among your machines. You can
-        generate a random 32-bit ID using the following command:
+        generate a random 32-bit ID using the following commands:
 
+        <literal>cksum /etc/machine-id | while read c rest; do printf "%x" $c; done</literal>
+        
+        (this derives it from the machine-id that systemd generates) or
+        
         <literal>head -c4 /dev/urandom | od -A none -t x4</literal>
       '';
     };