diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/xd/xdg-user-dirs/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/xd/xdg-user-dirs/package.nix
index 3b87f75c7f07..3238a332fd78 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/xd/xdg-user-dirs/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/xd/xdg-user-dirs/package.nix
@@ -48,6 +48,10 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
 
     substituteInPlace "$out/lib/systemd/user/xdg-user-dirs.service" \
       --replace-fail "/usr/bin/xdg-user-dirs-update" "$out/bin/xdg-user-dirs-update"
+
+    # Autostart, because the installed service is never explicitly enabled in NixOS
+    substituteInPlace "$out/etc/xdg/autostart/xdg-user-dirs.desktop" \
+      --replace-fail "X-systemd-skip=true" "X-systemd-skip=false"
   '';
 
   meta = {