diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/x11/display-managers/default.nix b/nixos/modules/services/x11/display-managers/default.nix
index 995ecd231c43..1f08ded7c96f 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/services/x11/display-managers/default.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/x11/display-managers/default.nix
@@ -27,6 +27,30 @@ let
     Xft.hintstyle: ${fontconfig.hinting.style}
   '';
 
+  # FIXME: this is an ugly hack.
+  # Some sessions (read: most WMs) don't activate systemd's `graphical-session.target`.
+  # Other sessions (read: most non-WMs) expect `graphical-session.target` to be reached
+  # when the entire session is actually ready. We used to just unconditionally force
+  # `graphical-session.target` to be activated in the session wrapper so things like
+  # xdg-autostart-generator work on sessions that are wrong, but this broke sessions
+  # that do things right. So, preserve this behavior (with some extra steps) by matching
+  # on XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP and deliberately ignoring sessions we know can do the right thing.
+  fakeSession = action: ''
+      session_is_systemd_aware=$(
+        IFS=:
+        for i in $XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP; do
+          case $i in
+            KDE|GNOME|X-NIXOS-SYSTEMD-AWARE) echo "1"; exit; ;;
+            *) ;;
+          esac
+        done
+      )
+
+      if [ -z "$session_is_systemd_aware" ]; then
+        /run/current-system/systemd/bin/systemctl --user ${action} nixos-fake-graphical-session.target
+      fi
+  '';
+
   # file provided by services.xserver.displayManager.sessionData.wrapper
   xsessionWrapper = pkgs.writeScript "xsession-wrapper"
     ''
@@ -90,8 +114,7 @@ let
 
       ${cfg.displayManager.sessionCommands}
 
-      # Start systemd user services for graphical sessions
-      /run/current-system/systemd/bin/systemctl --user start graphical-session.target
+      ${fakeSession "start"}
 
       # Allow the user to setup a custom session type.
       if test -x ~/.xsession; then
@@ -417,10 +440,10 @@ in
       "XDG_SESSION_ID"
     ];
 
-    systemd.user.targets.graphical-session = {
+    systemd.user.targets.nixos-fake-graphical-session = {
       unitConfig = {
-        RefuseManualStart = false;
-        StopWhenUnneeded = false;
+        Description = "Fake graphical-session target for non-systemd-aware sessions";
+        BindsTo = "graphical-session.target";
       };
     };
 
@@ -451,7 +474,7 @@ in
 
           test -n "$waitPID" && wait "$waitPID"
 
-          /run/current-system/systemd/bin/systemctl --user stop graphical-session.target
+          ${fakeSession "stop"}
 
           exit 0
         '';