diff --git a/ironic/conf/irmc.py b/ironic/conf/irmc.py
index 68ee43b3a3..e36c83d604 100644
--- a/ironic/conf/irmc.py
+++ b/ironic/conf/irmc.py
@@ -130,8 +130,7 @@ opts = [
                       'Foreground Initialization (FGI) will start 5 minutes '
                       'after creating virtual drives.')),
     cfg.StrOpt('kernel_append_params',
-               # TODO(dtantsur): set to the same value as in [pxe] after Xena
-               default=None,
+               default='nofb vga=normal',
                mutable=True,
                help=_('Additional kernel parameters to pass down to the '
                       'instance kernel. These parameters can be consumed by '
diff --git a/releasenotes/notes/update-value-of-a-configuration-option-91708f3366afd4c6.yaml b/releasenotes/notes/update-value-of-a-configuration-option-91708f3366afd4c6.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..f85c6cbe65
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releasenotes/notes/update-value-of-a-configuration-option-91708f3366afd4c6.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+fixes:
+  - |
+    Update ``kernel_append_params`` to match the ``[pxe]`` configuration,
+    addressing a TODO from the Xena release.