diff --git a/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-2511.section.md b/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-2511.section.md
index 3cb90a10e0a3..039478a1d489 100644
--- a/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-2511.section.md
+++ b/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-2511.section.md
@@ -150,6 +150,8 @@
 - The zookeeper project changed their logging tool to logback, therefore `services.zookeeper.logging` option has been updated to expect a logback compatible string.
 - The `dovecot` systemd service was renamed from `dovecot2` to `dovecot`. The former is now just an alias. Update any overrides on the systemd unit to the new name.
 
+- Configurations with `boot.initrd.systend.enable && !boot.initrd.enable` will have their `init` script at `$toplevel/init` instead of `$toplevel/prepare-root`. This is because it does not make sense for systemd stage 1 to affect the `init` script when stage 1 is entirely disabled (e.g. containers).
+
 - `Prosody` has been updated to major release 13 which removed some obsoleted modules and brought a couple of major and breaking changes:
   - The `http_files` module is now disabled by default because it now requires `http_files_dir` to be configured.
   - The `vcard_muc` module has been removed and got replaced by the inbuilt `muc_vcard` module.
diff --git a/nixos/modules/system/activation/top-level.nix b/nixos/modules/system/activation/top-level.nix
index b8662e992965..875e2d5410b3 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/system/activation/top-level.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/system/activation/top-level.nix
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ let
     mkdir $out
 
     ${
-      if config.boot.initrd.systemd.enable then
+      if config.boot.initrd.enable && config.boot.initrd.systemd.enable then
         ''
           cp ${config.system.build.bootStage2} $out/prepare-root
           substituteInPlace $out/prepare-root --subst-var-by systemConfig $out
diff --git a/nixos/modules/virtualisation/lxc-container.nix b/nixos/modules/virtualisation/lxc-container.nix
index 8bd252e96c28..a6964b8b2c9a 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/virtualisation/lxc-container.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/virtualisation/lxc-container.nix
@@ -28,9 +28,7 @@
   options = { };
 
   config =
-    let
-      initScript = if config.boot.initrd.systemd.enable then "prepare-root" else "init";
-    in
+
     {
       boot.isContainer = true;
       boot.postBootCommands = ''
@@ -79,7 +77,7 @@
 
         contents = [
           {
-            source = config.system.build.toplevel + "/${initScript}";
+            source = config.system.build.toplevel + "/init";
             target = "/sbin/init";
           }
           # Technically this is not required for lxc, but having also make this configuration work with systemd-nspawn.
@@ -104,7 +102,7 @@
 
         pseudoFiles = [
           "/sbin d 0755 0 0"
-          "/sbin/init s 0555 0 0 ${config.system.build.toplevel}/${initScript}"
+          "/sbin/init s 0555 0 0 ${config.system.build.toplevel}/init"
           "/dev d 0755 0 0"
           "/proc d 0555 0 0"
           "/sys d 0555 0 0"
@@ -113,7 +111,7 @@
 
       system.build.installBootLoader = pkgs.writeScript "install-lxc-sbin-init.sh" ''
         #!${pkgs.runtimeShell}
-        ${pkgs.coreutils}/bin/ln -fs "$1/${initScript}" /sbin/init
+        ${pkgs.coreutils}/bin/ln -fs "$1/init" /sbin/init
       '';
 
       # networkd depends on this, but systemd module disables this for containers
@@ -122,7 +120,7 @@
       systemd.packages = [ pkgs.distrobuilder.generator ];
 
       system.activationScripts.installInitScript = lib.mkForce ''
-        ln -fs $systemConfig/${initScript} /sbin/init
+        ln -fs $systemConfig/init /sbin/init
       '';
     };
 }