diff --git a/pkgs/servers/pulseaudio/default.nix b/pkgs/servers/pulseaudio/default.nix
index 70a964039fce..625e2e0e8ca5 100644
--- a/pkgs/servers/pulseaudio/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/servers/pulseaudio/default.nix
@@ -93,7 +93,8 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     ]
     ++ lib.optional (jackaudioSupport && !libOnly) "--enable-jack"
     ++ lib.optional stdenv.isDarwin "--with-mac-sysroot=/"
-    ++ lib.optional (stdenv.isLinux && useSystemd) "--with-systemduserunitdir=${placeholder "out"}/lib/systemd/user";
+    ++ lib.optional (stdenv.isLinux && useSystemd) "--with-systemduserunitdir=${placeholder "out"}/lib/systemd/user"
+    ++ lib.optional (stdenv.buildPlatform != stdenv.hostPlatform) "--disable-gsettings";
 
   enableParallelBuilding = true;
 
@@ -118,7 +119,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     rm -f $out/bin/qpaeq # this is packaged by the "qpaeq" package now, because of missing deps
   '';
 
-  preFixup = lib.optionalString stdenv.isLinux ''
+  preFixup = lib.optionalString (stdenv.isLinux  && (stdenv.hostPlatform == stdenv.buildPlatform)) ''
     wrapProgram $out/libexec/pulse/gsettings-helper \
      --prefix XDG_DATA_DIRS : "$out/share/gsettings-schemas/${name}" \
      --prefix GIO_EXTRA_MODULES : "${lib.getLib dconf}/lib/gio/modules"