diff --git a/nixos/tests/all-tests.nix b/nixos/tests/all-tests.nix
index a991ce8be77a..f544a0cbb5c7 100644
--- a/nixos/tests/all-tests.nix
+++ b/nixos/tests/all-tests.nix
@@ -513,7 +513,7 @@ in {
   peerflix = handleTest ./peerflix.nix {};
   peering-manager = handleTest ./web-apps/peering-manager.nix {};
   peertube = handleTestOn ["x86_64-linux"] ./web-apps/peertube.nix {};
-  pgadmin4-standalone = handleTest ./pgadmin4-standalone.nix {};
+  pgadmin4 = handleTest ./pgadmin4.nix {};
   pgjwt = handleTest ./pgjwt.nix {};
   pgmanage = handleTest ./pgmanage.nix {};
   phosh = handleTest ./phosh.nix {};
diff --git a/nixos/tests/pgadmin4-standalone.nix b/nixos/tests/pgadmin4-standalone.nix
deleted file mode 100644
index 30e22d16ddc3..000000000000
--- a/nixos/tests/pgadmin4-standalone.nix
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,43 +0,0 @@
-import ./make-test-python.nix ({ pkgs, lib, ... }:
-# This is separate from pgadmin4 since we don't want both running at once
-
-{
-  name = "pgadmin4-standalone";
-  meta.maintainers = with lib.maintainers; [ mkg20001 ];
-
-  nodes.machine = { pkgs, ... }: {
-    environment.systemPackages = with pkgs; [
-      curl
-    ];
-
-    services.postgresql = {
-      enable = true;
-
-      authentication = ''
-        host    all             all             localhost               trust
-      '';
-
-      ensureUsers = [
-        {
-          name = "postgres";
-          ensurePermissions = {
-            "DATABASE \"postgres\"" = "ALL PRIVILEGES";
-          };
-        }
-      ];
-    };
-
-    services.pgadmin = {
-      enable = true;
-      initialEmail = "bruh@localhost.de";
-      initialPasswordFile = pkgs.writeText "pw" "bruh2012!";
-    };
-  };
-
-  testScript = ''
-    machine.wait_for_unit("postgresql")
-    machine.wait_for_unit("pgadmin")
-
-    machine.wait_until_succeeds("curl -s localhost:5050")
-  '';
-})
diff --git a/nixos/tests/pgadmin4.nix b/nixos/tests/pgadmin4.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..6a9ce6ceae29
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nixos/tests/pgadmin4.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+import ./make-test-python.nix ({ pkgs, lib, ... }:
+
+{
+  name = "pgadmin4";
+  meta.maintainers = with lib.maintainers; [ mkg20001 gador ];
+
+  nodes.machine = { pkgs, ... }: {
+
+    imports = [ ./common/user-account.nix ];
+
+    environment.systemPackages = with pkgs; [
+      curl
+      pgadmin4-desktopmode
+    ];
+
+    services.postgresql = {
+      enable = true;
+      authentication = ''
+        host    all             all             localhost               trust
+      '';
+      ensureUsers = [
+        {
+          name = "postgres";
+          ensurePermissions = {
+            "DATABASE \"postgres\"" = "ALL PRIVILEGES";
+          };
+        }
+      ];
+    };
+
+    services.pgadmin = {
+      port = 5051;
+      enable = true;
+      initialEmail = "bruh@localhost.de";
+      initialPasswordFile = pkgs.writeText "pw" "bruh2012!";
+    };
+  };
+
+  testScript = ''
+    with subtest("Check pgadmin module"):
+      machine.wait_for_unit("postgresql")
+      machine.wait_for_unit("pgadmin")
+      machine.wait_until_succeeds("curl -s localhost:5051")
+      machine.wait_until_succeeds("curl -s localhost:5051/login | grep \"<title>pgAdmin 4</title>\" > /dev/null")
+
+    # pgadmin4 module saves the configuration to /etc/pgadmin/config_system.py
+    # pgadmin4-desktopmode tries to read that as well. This normally fails with a PermissionError, as the config file
+    # is owned by the user of the pgadmin module. With the check-system-config-dir.patch this will just throw a warning
+    # but will continue and not read the file.
+    # If we run pgadmin4-desktopmode as root (something one really shouldn't do), it can read the config file and fail,
+    # because of the wrong config for desktopmode.
+    with subtest("Check pgadmin standalone desktop mode"):
+      machine.execute("sudo -u alice pgadmin4 >&2 &", timeout=60)
+      machine.wait_until_succeeds("curl -s localhost:5050")
+      machine.wait_until_succeeds("curl -s localhost:5050/browser/ | grep \"<title>pgAdmin 4</title>\" > /dev/null")
+  '';
+})
diff --git a/pkgs/tools/admin/pgadmin/check-system-config-dir.patch b/pkgs/tools/admin/pgadmin/check-system-config-dir.patch
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..f614bab64e6f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/tools/admin/pgadmin/check-system-config-dir.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+diff --git a/web/config.py b/web/config.py
+index 4774043..5b73fd3 100644
+--- a/web/config.py
++++ b/web/config.py
+@@ -884,6 +884,12 @@ if os.path.exists(system_config_dir + '/config_system.py'):
+         user_config_settings.update(config_system_settings)
+     except ImportError:
+         pass
++    except PermissionError:
++        print(f"Permission denied to open {str(system_config_dir + '/config_system.py')}. \n \
++              If you are running pgadmin4-desktopmode please make sure you disable  \n \
++              the pgadmin NixOS module first. If you rely on settings in \n \
++              {str(system_config_dir + '/config_system.py')}, please check the correct permissions.")
++        pass
+
+ # Update settings for 'LOG_FILE', 'SQLITE_PATH', 'SESSION_DB_PATH',
+ # 'AZURE_CREDENTIAL_CACHE_DIR', 'KERBEROS_CCACHE_DIR', 'STORAGE_DIR'
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/pkgs/tools/admin/pgadmin/default.nix b/pkgs/tools/admin/pgadmin/default.nix
index 2f85b4e3aff9..a83d96779de6 100644
--- a/pkgs/tools/admin/pgadmin/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/tools/admin/pgadmin/default.nix
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 , fetchPypi
 , postgresqlTestHook
 , postgresql
+, server-mode ? true
 }:
 
 let
@@ -88,6 +89,8 @@ pythonPackages.buildPythonApplication rec {
   patches = [
     # Expose setup.py for later use
     ./expose-setup.py.patch
+    # check for permission of /etc/pgadmin/config_system and don't fail
+    ./check-system-config-dir.patch
   ];
 
   postPatch = ''
@@ -105,6 +108,10 @@ pythonPackages.buildPythonApplication rec {
     sed 's|==|>=|g' -i requirements.txt
     substituteInPlace pkg/pip/setup_pip.py \
       --replace "req = req.replace('psycopg2', 'psycopg2-binary')" "req = req"
+    ${lib.optionalString (!server-mode) ''
+    substituteInPlace web/config.py \
+      --replace "SERVER_MODE = True" "SERVER_MODE = False"
+    ''}
   '';
 
   preBuild = ''
@@ -242,7 +249,20 @@ pythonPackages.buildPythonApplication rec {
   '';
 
   meta = with lib; {
-    description = "Administration and development platform for PostgreSQL";
+    description = "Administration and development platform for PostgreSQL${optionalString (!server-mode) ". Desktop Mode"}";
+    longDescription = ''
+      pgAdmin 4 is designed to meet the needs of both novice and experienced Postgres users alike,
+      providing a powerful graphical interface that simplifies the creation, maintenance and use of database objects.
+      ${if server-mode then ''
+      This version is build with SERVER_MODE set to True (the default). It will require access to `/var/lib/pgadmin`
+      and `/var/log/pgadmin`. This is the default version for the NixOS module `services.pgadmin`.
+      This should NOT be used in combination with the `pgadmin4-desktopmode` package as they will interfere.
+      '' else ''
+      This version is build with SERVER_MODE set to False. It will require access to `~/.pgadmin/`. This version is suitable
+      for single-user deployment or where access to `/var/lib/pgadmin` cannot be granted or the NixOS module cannot be used.
+      This should NOT be used in combination with the NixOS module `pgadmin` as they will interfere.
+      ''}
+    '';
     homepage = "https://www.pgadmin.org/";
     license = licenses.mit;
     changelog = "https://www.pgadmin.org/docs/pgadmin4/latest/release_notes_${lib.versions.major version}_${lib.versions.minor version}.html";
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index 8afd5a0055a0..73131f79dad3 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -37950,6 +37950,8 @@ with pkgs;
 
   pgadmin4 = callPackage ../tools/admin/pgadmin { };
 
+  pgadmin4-desktopmode = callPackage ../tools/admin/pgadmin { server-mode = false; };
+
   pgmodeler = qt6Packages.callPackage ../applications/misc/pgmodeler { };
 
   physlock = callPackage ../misc/screensavers/physlock { };