diff --git a/drivers/video/console/Kconfig b/drivers/video/console/Kconfig
index f500e58f7636..5b71bd905a60 100644
--- a/drivers/video/console/Kconfig
+++ b/drivers/video/console/Kconfig
@@ -47,14 +47,16 @@ config VGACON_SOFT_SCROLLBACK_SIZE
 	  buffers of VGA consoles. Each 64KB will give you approximately
 	  16 80x25 screenfuls of scrollback buffer.
 
-config VGACON_SOFT_SCROLLBACK_PERSISTENT
-	bool "Persistent Scrollback History for each console"
+config VGACON_SOFT_SCROLLBACK_PERSISTENT_ENABLE_BY_DEFAULT
+	bool "Persistent Scrollback History for each console by default"
 	depends on VGACON_SOFT_SCROLLBACK
 	default n
 	help
-	  Say Y here if the scrollback history should persist when switching
-	  between consoles. Otherwise, the scrollback history will be flushed
-	  each time the console is switched.
+	  Say Y here if the scrollback history should persist by default when
+	  switching between consoles. Otherwise, the scrollback history will be
+	  flushed each time the console is switched. This feature can also be
+	  enabled using the boot command line parameter
+	  'vgacon.scrollback_persistent=1'.
 
 	  This feature might break your tool of choice to flush the scrollback
 	  buffer, e.g. clear(1) will work fine but Debian's clear_console(1)
diff --git a/drivers/video/console/vgacon.c b/drivers/video/console/vgacon.c
index ca23d222e029..dc06cb6a15dc 100644
--- a/drivers/video/console/vgacon.c
+++ b/drivers/video/console/vgacon.c
@@ -174,11 +174,11 @@ struct vgacon_scrollback_info {
 };
 
 static struct vgacon_scrollback_info *vgacon_scrollback_cur;
-#ifdef CONFIG_VGACON_SOFT_SCROLLBACK_PERSISTENT
 static struct vgacon_scrollback_info vgacon_scrollbacks[MAX_NR_CONSOLES];
-#else
-static struct vgacon_scrollback_info vgacon_scrollbacks[1];
-#endif
+static bool scrollback_persistent = \
+	IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_VGACON_SOFT_SCROLLBACK_PERSISTENT_ENABLE_BY_DEFAULT);
+module_param_named(scrollback_persistent, scrollback_persistent, bool, 0000);
+MODULE_PARM_DESC(scrollback_persistent, "Enable persistent scrollback for all vga consoles");
 
 static void vgacon_scrollback_reset(int vc_num, size_t reset_size)
 {
@@ -213,20 +213,19 @@ static void vgacon_scrollback_init(int vc_num)
 
 static void vgacon_scrollback_switch(int vc_num)
 {
-#ifndef CONFIG_VGACON_SOFT_SCROLLBACK_PERSISTENT
-	vc_num = 0;
-#endif
+	if (!scrollback_persistent)
+		vc_num = 0;
 
 	if (!vgacon_scrollbacks[vc_num].data) {
 		vgacon_scrollback_init(vc_num);
 	} else {
-#ifdef CONFIG_VGACON_SOFT_SCROLLBACK_PERSISTENT
-		vgacon_scrollback_cur = &vgacon_scrollbacks[vc_num];
-#else
-		size_t size = CONFIG_VGACON_SOFT_SCROLLBACK_SIZE * 1024;
+		if (scrollback_persistent) {
+			vgacon_scrollback_cur = &vgacon_scrollbacks[vc_num];
+		} else {
+			size_t size = CONFIG_VGACON_SOFT_SCROLLBACK_SIZE * 1024;
 
-		vgacon_scrollback_reset(vc_num, size);
-#endif
+			vgacon_scrollback_reset(vc_num, size);
+		}
 	}
 }