diff --git a/src/libcalamares/python/Api.cpp b/src/libcalamares/python/Api.cpp
index 309ed6a27..2c44d0ad3 100644
--- a/src/libcalamares/python/Api.cpp
+++ b/src/libcalamares/python/Api.cpp
@@ -566,10 +566,14 @@ GlobalStorageProxy::value( const std::string& key ) const
 }  // namespace Python
 }  // namespace Calamares
 
-PYBIND11_EMBEDDED_MODULE( utils, m )
+// Not using EMBEDDED_MODULE because that does not let
+// use use name "libcalamares.utils" and using just "utils"
+// causes command-line use of Python3 followed by `import libcalamares`
+// to crash with an error about adding modules after the interpreter
+// has been initialized.
+static void
+populate_utils( py::module_&& m )
 {
-    m.doc() = "Calamares Utility API for Python";
-
     m.def( "obscure", &Calamares::Python::obscure, "A function that obscures (encodes) a string" );
 
     m.def( "debug", &Calamares::Python::debug, "Log a debug-message" );
@@ -628,7 +632,7 @@ PYBIND11_MODULE( libcalamares, m )
     m.add_object( "VERSION", Calamares::Python::String( CALAMARES_VERSION ) );
     m.add_object( "VERSION_SHORT", Calamares::Python::String( CALAMARES_VERSION_SHORT ) );
 
-    m.add_object( "utils", py::module::import( "utils" ) );
+    populate_utils( m.def_submodule( "utils", "Calamares Utility API for Python" ) );
 
     py::class_< Calamares::Python::JobProxy >( m, "Job" )
         .def_readonly( "module_name", &Calamares::Python::JobProxy::moduleName )