diff --git a/repos/base-nova/src/core/platform.cc b/repos/base-nova/src/core/platform.cc
index ea32fa6e1..3d3919f68 100644
--- a/repos/base-nova/src/core/platform.cc
+++ b/repos/base-nova/src/core/platform.cc
@@ -336,6 +336,14 @@ Platform::Platform()
 	 * Now that we can access the I/O ports for comport 0, printf works...
 	 */
 
+	/*
+	 * Mark successful boot of hypervisor for automatic tests. This must be
+	 * done before core_log is initialized to prevent unexpected-reboot
+	 * detection.
+	 */
+	log("\nHypervisor ", String<sizeof(hip.signature)+1>((char const *)&hip.signature),
+	    " (API v", hip.api_version, ")");
+
 	/*
 	 * remap main utcb to default utcb address
 	 * we do this that early, because Core_mem_allocator uses
diff --git a/repos/os/run/log_core.run b/repos/os/run/log_core.run
index fff02cd48..f86612d68 100644
--- a/repos/os/run/log_core.run
+++ b/repos/os/run/log_core.run
@@ -14,8 +14,6 @@ proc log_service { } {
 
 if {[have_spec nova]} {
 	proc kernel_output { } { return "novga logmem" }
-	# differs because \n is missing, since kernel serial is off
-	proc run_boot_string { } { return "Hypervisor reports "}
 }
 
 build "core init timer server/vfs server/fs_log app/log_core"
diff --git a/tool/run/boot_dir/nova b/tool/run/boot_dir/nova
index 73f0e4d93..a230d43ae 100644
--- a/tool/run/boot_dir/nova
+++ b/tool/run/boot_dir/nova
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ proc kernel_files { } { return hypervisor }
 proc kernel_output { } { return "novga serial" }
 
 proc run_boot_string { } {
-	return "\nHypervisor reports "
+	return "\nHypervisor NOVA "
 }
 
 proc apply_microcode { } { return false }