diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/networking/adguardhome.nix b/nixos/modules/services/networking/adguardhome.nix
index df9927351edc..06900166ef2c 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/services/networking/adguardhome.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/networking/adguardhome.nix
@@ -167,8 +167,13 @@ in {
       preStart = optionalString (settings != null) ''
         if    [ -e "$STATE_DIRECTORY/AdGuardHome.yaml" ] \
            && [ "${toString cfg.mutableSettings}" = "1" ]; then
+          # First run a schema_version update on the existing configuration
+          # This ensures that both the new config and the existing one have the same schema_version
+          # Note: --check-config has the side effect of modifying the file at rest!
+          ${lib.getExe cfg.package} -c "$STATE_DIRECTORY/AdGuardHome.yaml" --check-config
+
           # Writing directly to AdGuardHome.yaml results in empty file
-          ${pkgs.yaml-merge}/bin/yaml-merge "$STATE_DIRECTORY/AdGuardHome.yaml" "${configFile}" > "$STATE_DIRECTORY/AdGuardHome.yaml.tmp"
+          ${lib.getExe pkgs.yaml-merge} "$STATE_DIRECTORY/AdGuardHome.yaml" "${configFile}" > "$STATE_DIRECTORY/AdGuardHome.yaml.tmp"
           mv "$STATE_DIRECTORY/AdGuardHome.yaml.tmp" "$STATE_DIRECTORY/AdGuardHome.yaml"
         else
           cp --force "${configFile}" "$STATE_DIRECTORY/AdGuardHome.yaml"
@@ -178,7 +183,7 @@ in {
 
       serviceConfig = {
         DynamicUser = true;
-        ExecStart = "${cfg.package}/bin/adguardhome ${args}";
+        ExecStart = "${lib.getExe cfg.package} ${args}";
         AmbientCapabilities = [ "CAP_NET_BIND_SERVICE" ]
           ++ optionals cfg.allowDHCP [ "CAP_NET_RAW" ];
         Restart = "always";