diff --git a/nixbld-etc-nixos/configuration.nix b/nixbld-etc-nixos/configuration.nix
index be45b02b..a8801627 100644
--- a/nixbld-etc-nixos/configuration.nix
+++ b/nixbld-etc-nixos/configuration.nix
@@ -732,7 +732,6 @@ in
   users.extraUsers.nix = {
     isNormalUser = true;
   };
-  boot.kernel.sysctl."kernel.dmesg_restrict" = true;
   services.udev.packages = [ pkgs.sane-backends ];
 
   nix.settings.max-jobs = 10;
diff --git a/nixops/desktop.nix b/nixops/desktop.nix
index 0cc9f4d2..fb7afbf0 100644
--- a/nixops/desktop.nix
+++ b/nixops/desktop.nix
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ in
 
   boot.loader.systemd-boot.memtest86.enable = true;
   boot.loader.grub.memtest86.enable = true;
+  boot.kernel.sysctl."kernel.dmesg_restrict" = false;
 
   imports =
     [
diff --git a/nixops/rpi.nix b/nixops/rpi.nix
index baf09468..883c9094 100644
--- a/nixops/rpi.nix
+++ b/nixops/rpi.nix
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ in
   boot.loader.generic-extlinux-compatible.enable = true;
   boot.kernelParams = if rpi4 then ["cma=64M"] else []; # work around https://github.com/raspberrypi/linux/issues/3208
   boot.initrd.includeDefaultModules = false;
+  boot.kernel.sysctl."kernel.dmesg_restrict" = false;
 
   fileSystems = {
     "/" = {