diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/un/unrar-free/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/un/unrar-free/package.nix
index 87cfafc7468e..3f898f78230f 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/un/unrar-free/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/un/unrar-free/package.nix
@@ -25,6 +25,8 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
 
   buildInputs = [ libarchive ];
 
+  setupHook = ./setup-hook.sh;
+
   meta = {
     description = "Free utility to extract files from RAR archives";
     longDescription = ''
diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/un/unrar-free/setup-hook.sh b/pkgs/by-name/un/unrar-free/setup-hook.sh
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..347bf4c125d2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/un/unrar-free/setup-hook.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+unpackCmdHooks+=(_tryUnrarFree)
+_tryUnrarFree() {
+    if ! [[ "$curSrc" =~ \.rar$ ]]; then return 1; fi
+    unrar-free -x "$curSrc" >/dev/null
+}