diff --git a/nixos/modules/virtualisation/containers.nix b/nixos/modules/virtualisation/containers.nix
index 4fca872d72eb..7a8c8a4594b5 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/virtualisation/containers.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/virtualisation/containers.nix
@@ -220,6 +220,7 @@ in
             ''}
 
             exec $runInNetNs ${config.systemd.package}/bin/systemd-nspawn \
+              --keep-unit \
               -M "$INSTANCE" -D "$root" $extraFlags \
               --bind-ro=/nix/store \
               --bind-ro=/nix/var/nix/db \