diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/search/elasticsearch.nix b/nixos/modules/services/search/elasticsearch.nix
index b7a3566f95d9..0ba4ff86abe7 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/services/search/elasticsearch.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/search/elasticsearch.nix
@@ -106,6 +106,7 @@ in {
       serviceConfig = {
         ExecStart = "${pkgs.elasticsearch}/bin/elasticsearch -f -Des.path.conf=${configDir}";
         User = "elasticsearch";
+        PermissionsStartOnly = true;
       };
       preStart = ''
         mkdir -m 0700 -p ${cfg.dataDir}