diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/networking/dhcpcd.nix b/nixos/modules/services/networking/dhcpcd.nix
index 87c0aa50a1ff..7eeceb7407c6 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/services/networking/dhcpcd.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/networking/dhcpcd.nix
@@ -157,7 +157,7 @@ in
     systemd.services.dhcpcd =
       { description = "DHCP Client";
 
-        wantedBy = [ "multi-user.target" ];
+        wantedBy = [ "network-online.target" ];
         after = [ "network.target" ];
         wants = [ "network.target" ];
 
@@ -173,7 +173,7 @@ in
         serviceConfig =
           { Type = "forking";
             PIDFile = "/run/dhcpcd.pid";
-            ExecStart = "@${dhcpcd}/sbin/dhcpcd dhcpcd --quiet ${optionalString cfg.persistent "--persistent"} --config ${dhcpcdConf}";
+            ExecStart = "@${dhcpcd}/sbin/dhcpcd dhcpcd -w --quiet ${optionalString cfg.persistent "--persistent"} --config ${dhcpcdConf}";
             ExecReload = "${dhcpcd}/sbin/dhcpcd --rebind";
             Restart = "always";
           };
diff --git a/nixos/modules/system/boot/systemd.nix b/nixos/modules/system/boot/systemd.nix
index de5fb3edd67e..bff6739db616 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/system/boot/systemd.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/system/boot/systemd.nix
@@ -842,6 +842,7 @@ in
     systemd.services.systemd-journald.stopIfChanged = false;
     systemd.targets.local-fs.unitConfig.X-StopOnReconfiguration = true;
     systemd.targets.remote-fs.unitConfig.X-StopOnReconfiguration = true;
+    systemd.targets.network-online.wantedBy = [ "multi-user.target" ];
     systemd.services.systemd-binfmt.wants = [ "proc-sys-fs-binfmt_misc.automount" ];
 
     # Don't bother with certain units in containers.