diff --git a/release.nix b/release.nix
index fdf3fa946..e359ebcb2 100644
--- a/release.nix
+++ b/release.nix
@@ -241,6 +241,7 @@ let
         { diskImage = vmTools.diskImages.ubuntu1204x86_64;
         }
         ''
+          set -x
           useradd -m alice
           su - alice -c 'tar xf ${binaryTarball.x86_64-linux}/*.tar.*'
           mkdir /dest-nix
@@ -251,14 +252,13 @@ let
           su - alice -c 'PAGER= nix-store -qR ${build.x86_64-linux}'
 
           # Check whether 'nix upgrade-nix' works.
-          (! [ -L /nix/var/nix/profiles/per-user/alice/profile-2-link ])
           cat > /tmp/paths.nix <<EOF
           {
             x86_64-linux = "${build.x86_64-linux}";
           }
           EOF
           su - alice -c 'nix upgrade-nix -vvv --nix-store-paths-url file:///tmp/paths.nix'
-          [ -L /nix/var/nix/profiles/per-user/alice/profile-2-link ]
+          (! [ -L /home/alice/.profile-1-link ])
           su - alice -c 'PAGER= nix-store -qR ${build.x86_64-linux}'
 
           mkdir -p $out/nix-support
diff --git a/src/nix/upgrade-nix.cc b/src/nix/upgrade-nix.cc
index 2db60922a..35c44a70c 100644
--- a/src/nix/upgrade-nix.cc
+++ b/src/nix/upgrade-nix.cc
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@
 #include "download.hh"
 #include "eval.hh"
 #include "attr-path.hh"
+#include "names.hh"
+#include "progress-bar.hh"
 
 using namespace nix;
 
@@ -67,28 +69,36 @@ struct CmdUpgradeNix : MixDryRun, StoreCommand
             storePath = getLatestNix(store);
         }
 
+        auto version = DrvName(storePathToName(storePath)).version;
+
+        if (dryRun) {
+            stopProgressBar();
+            printError("would upgrade to version %s", version);
+            return;
+        }
+
         {
             Activity act(*logger, lvlInfo, actUnknown, fmt("downloading '%s'...", storePath));
-            if (!dryRun)
-                store->ensurePath(storePath);
+            store->ensurePath(storePath);
         }
 
         {
             Activity act(*logger, lvlInfo, actUnknown, fmt("verifying that '%s' works...", storePath));
-            if (!dryRun) {
-                auto program = storePath + "/bin/nix-env";
-                auto s = runProgram(program, false, {"--version"});
-                if (s.find("Nix") == std::string::npos)
-                    throw Error("could not verify that '%s' works", program);
-            }
+            auto program = storePath + "/bin/nix-env";
+            auto s = runProgram(program, false, {"--version"});
+            if (s.find("Nix") == std::string::npos)
+                throw Error("could not verify that '%s' works", program);
         }
 
+        stopProgressBar();
+
         {
             Activity act(*logger, lvlInfo, actUnknown, fmt("installing '%s' into profile '%s'...", storePath, profileDir));
-            if (!dryRun)
-                runProgram(settings.nixBinDir + "/nix-env", false,
-                    {"--profile", profileDir, "-i", storePath, "--no-sandbox"});
+            runProgram(settings.nixBinDir + "/nix-env", false,
+                {"--profile", profileDir, "-i", storePath, "--no-sandbox"});
         }
+
+        printError(ANSI_GREEN "upgrade to version %s done" ANSI_NORMAL, version);
     }
 
     /* Return the profile in which Nix is installed. */
@@ -113,7 +123,7 @@ struct CmdUpgradeNix : MixDryRun, StoreCommand
         Path profileDir = dirOf(where);
 
         // Resolve profile to /nix/var/nix/profiles/<name> link.
-        while (baseNameOf(dirOf(canonPath(profileDir))) != "profiles" && isLink(profileDir))
+        while (canonPath(profileDir).find("/profiles/") == std::string::npos && isLink(profileDir))
             profileDir = readLink(profileDir);
 
         printInfo("found profile '%s'", profileDir);