diff --git a/lib/images/windows/helpers/customizeImage.nix b/lib/images/windows/helpers/customizeImage.nix
index 652b2b4..79dc155 100644
--- a/lib/images/windows/helpers/customizeImage.nix
+++ b/lib/images/windows/helpers/customizeImage.nix
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
     vncDisplay ? null,
     smp ? 4,
     memSize ? 4096,
+    nicModel ? null,
   }:
   let
     originalImageName = lib.strings.removeSuffix "-vmix" (lib.strings.removeSuffix ".qcow2" originalImage.name);
@@ -104,7 +105,7 @@
           then "-drive file=${resultImg},format=qcow2,if=none,id=disk0 -device ide-hd,drive=disk0"
           else "-drive file=${resultImg},format=qcow2,if=virtio"} \
         ${cdromArgs} \
-        -nic user,model=${if isAHCI then "e1000" else "virtio-net-pci"}"
+        -nic user,model=${if nicModel != null then nicModel else if isAHCI then "e1000" else "virtio-net-pci"}"
 
       timeout 1800 qemu-system-x86_64 $VMIX_DISPLAY $QEMU_ARGS || \
         if [[ "$VMIX_DISPLAY" == "-display sdl" ]]; then
diff --git a/lib/images/windows/templates/generalize.nix b/lib/images/windows/templates/generalize.nix
index 76904f8..0caa5b9 100644
--- a/lib/images/windows/templates/generalize.nix
+++ b/lib/images/windows/templates/generalize.nix
@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@ in
   bgColor ? null,
   # Enable Remote Desktop for the created user (re-applied after sysprep)
   enableRDP ? false,
+  # NIC model for the build VM (e.g. "e1000" for images without VirtIO drivers)
+  nicModel ? null,
   # delayOobeRun = true: sysprep only, OOBE + activation on real hardware
   # delayOobeRun = false: sysprep + OOBE + activation in build VM
   delayOobeRun ? false,
@@ -185,6 +187,7 @@ in
   '';
 in {
   name = if delayOobeRun then "generalize-delay-oobe" else "generalize";
+  inherit nicModel;
   uploads = [
     { source = oobeXml; dest = "/oobe-unattend.xml"; }
     { source = postOobeScript; dest = "/post-oobe.cmd"; }