diff --git a/checks/installation/flake-module.nix b/checks/installation/flake-module.nix
index f1284c94f..7d3cfd65b 100644
--- a/checks/installation/flake-module.nix
+++ b/checks/installation/flake-module.nix
@@ -302,7 +302,8 @@
                       "test-install-machine-without-system",
                       "-i", ssh_conn.ssh_key,
                       "--option", "store", os.environ['CLAN_TEST_STORE'],
-                      f"nonrootuser@localhost:{ssh_conn.host_port}"
+                      "--target-host", f"nonrootuser@localhost:{ssh_conn.host_port}",
+                      "--yes"
                   ]
 
                   result = subprocess.run(clan_cmd, capture_output=True, cwd=flake_dir)
@@ -326,7 +327,9 @@
                       "test-install-machine-without-system",
                       "-i", ssh_conn.ssh_key,
                       "--option", "store", os.environ['CLAN_TEST_STORE'],
-                      f"nonrootuser@localhost:{ssh_conn.host_port}"
+                      "--target-host",
+                      f"nonrootuser@localhost:{ssh_conn.host_port}",
+                      "--yes"
                   ]
 
                   result = subprocess.run(clan_cmd, capture_output=True, cwd=flake_dir)
diff --git a/pkgs/clan-cli/clan_cli/machines/cli.py b/pkgs/clan-cli/clan_cli/machines/cli.py
index e3575638d..f5b6c7401 100644
--- a/pkgs/clan-cli/clan_cli/machines/cli.py
+++ b/pkgs/clan-cli/clan_cli/machines/cli.py
@@ -92,16 +92,21 @@ Examples:
         "update-hardware-config",
         help="Generate hardware specifics for a machine",
         description="""
-Generates hardware specifics for a machine. Such as the host platform, available kernel modules, etc.
+
+This command will use kexec to boot the target into a minimal NixOS environment to gather the hardware information.
+If you want to manually ssh into the target after this command use `ssh root@<ip> -i ~/.config/clan/nixos-anywhere/keys/id_ed25519`
+
 
 The target must be a Linux based system reachable via SSH.
+
+
         """,
         epilog=(
             """
 Examples:
 
-  $ clan machines update-hardware-config [MACHINE] [TARGET_HOST]
-  Will generate hardware specifics for the the specified `[TARGET_HOST]` and place the result in hardware.nix for the given machine `[MACHINE]`.
+  $ clan machines update-hardware-config [MACHINE] --target-host root@<ip>
+  Will generate the facter.json hardware report for `[TARGET_HOST]` and place the result in facter.json for the given machine `[MACHINE]`.
 
 For more detailed information, visit: https://docs.clan.lol/guides/getting-started/configure/#machine-configuration
 
diff --git a/pkgs/clan-cli/clan_cli/machines/hardware.py b/pkgs/clan-cli/clan_cli/machines/hardware.py
index b84576ba6..8c5887f7e 100644
--- a/pkgs/clan-cli/clan_cli/machines/hardware.py
+++ b/pkgs/clan-cli/clan_cli/machines/hardware.py
@@ -44,6 +44,18 @@ def update_hardware_config_command(args: argparse.Namespace) -> None:
         private_key=args.identity_file,
     )
 
+    if not args.yes:
+        confirm = (
+            input(
+                f"Update hardware configuration for machine '{machine.name}' at '{target_host.target}'? [y/N]: "
+            )
+            .strip()
+            .lower()
+        )
+        if confirm not in ("y", "yes"):
+            log.info("Aborted.")
+            return
+
     run_machine_hardware_info(opts, target_host)
 
 
@@ -56,11 +68,16 @@ def register_update_hardware_config(parser: argparse.ArgumentParser) -> None:
     )
     add_dynamic_completer(machine_parser, complete_machines)
     parser.add_argument(
-        "target_host",
+        "--target-host",
         type=str,
-        nargs="?",
         help="ssh address to install to in the form of user@host:2222",
     )
+    parser.add_argument(
+        "-y",
+        "--yes",
+        action="store_true",
+        help="Automatic yes to prompts; assume 'yes' as answer to all prompts and run non-interactively.",
+    )
     parser.add_argument(
         "--host-key-check",
         choices=list(get_args(HostKeyCheck)),
diff --git a/pkgs/clan-cli/clan_lib/machines/hardware.py b/pkgs/clan-cli/clan_lib/machines/hardware.py
index 61f6cc632..057e2ef50 100644
--- a/pkgs/clan-cli/clan_lib/machines/hardware.py
+++ b/pkgs/clan-cli/clan_lib/machines/hardware.py
@@ -6,12 +6,13 @@ from pathlib import Path
 from typing import TypedDict
 
 from clan_lib.api import API
-from clan_lib.cmd import RunOpts, run
+from clan_lib.cmd import Log, RunOpts, run
 from clan_lib.dirs import specific_machine_dir
 from clan_lib.errors import ClanCmdError, ClanError
 from clan_lib.git import commit_file
 from clan_lib.machines.machines import Machine
-from clan_lib.nix import nix_config, nix_eval
+from clan_lib.nix import nix_config, nix_eval, nix_shell
+from clan_lib.ssh.create import create_secret_key_nixos_anywhere
 from clan_lib.ssh.remote import Remote
 
 log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
@@ -79,41 +80,45 @@ def run_machine_hardware_info(
     hw_file = opts.backend.config_path(opts.machine)
     hw_file.parent.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
 
-    if opts.backend == HardwareConfig.NIXOS_FACTER:
-        config_command = ["nixos-facter"]
-    else:
-        config_command = [
-            "nixos-generate-config",
-            # Filesystems are managed by disko
-            "--no-filesystems",
-            "--show-hardware-config",
-        ]
+    cmd = [
+        "nixos-anywhere",
+        "--flake",
+        f"{machine.flake}#{machine.name}",
+        "--phases",
+        "kexec",
+        "--generate-hardware-config",
+        str(opts.backend.value),
+        str(opts.backend.config_path(machine)),
+    ]
 
-    with target_host.host_connection() as ssh, ssh.become_root() as sudo_ssh:
-        out = sudo_ssh.run(config_command, opts=RunOpts(check=False))
-    if out.returncode != 0:
-        if "nixos-facter" in out.stderr and "not found" in out.stderr:
-            machine.error(str(out.stderr))
-            msg = (
-                "Please use our custom nixos install images from https://github.com/nix-community/nixos-images/releases/tag/nixos-unstable. "
-                "nixos-factor only works on nixos / clan systems currently."
-            )
-            raise ClanError(msg)
+    if target_host.private_key:
+        cmd += ["--ssh-option", f"IdentityFile={target_host.private_key}"]
 
-        machine.error(str(out))
-        msg = f"Failed to inspect {opts.machine}. Address: {target_host.target}"
-        raise ClanError(msg)
+    if target_host.port:
+        cmd += ["--ssh-port", str(target_host.port)]
+
+    key_pair = create_secret_key_nixos_anywhere()
+    cmd += ["-i", str(key_pair.private)]
 
     backup_file = None
     if hw_file.exists():
         backup_file = hw_file.with_suffix(".bak")
         hw_file.replace(backup_file)
-    hw_file.write_text(out.stdout)
+
+    cmd += [target_host.target]
+    cmd = nix_shell(
+        ["nixos-anywhere"],
+        cmd,
+    )
+
+    run(
+        cmd,
+        RunOpts(log=Log.BOTH, prefix=machine.name, needs_user_terminal=True),
+    )
     print(f"Successfully generated: {hw_file}")
 
     # try to evaluate the machine
     # If it fails, the hardware-configuration.nix file is invalid
-
     commit_file(
         hw_file,
         opts.machine.flake.path,