diff --git a/modules/services/misc/nix-daemon.nix b/modules/services/misc/nix-daemon.nix
index 221ad6e1f543..1f95e63b64ac 100644
--- a/modules/services/misc/nix-daemon.nix
+++ b/modules/services/misc/nix-daemon.nix
@@ -226,7 +226,7 @@ in
                 $extraOptions
                 END
               '';
-          target = "nix.conf"; # will be symlinked from /nix/etc/nix/nix.conf in activate-configuration.sh.
+          target = "nix/nix.conf";
         }
       ]
 
@@ -281,7 +281,7 @@ in
 
     nix.envVars =
       ''
-        export NIX_CONF_DIR=/nix/etc/nix
+        export NIX_CONF_DIR=/etc/nix
 
         # Enable the copy-from-other-stores substituter, which allows builds
         # to be sped up by copying build results from remote Nix stores.  To
@@ -306,8 +306,6 @@ in
     system.activationScripts.nix = stringAfter [ "etc" "users" ]
       ''
         # Set up Nix.
-        mkdir -p /nix/etc/nix
-        ln -sfn /etc/nix.conf /nix/etc/nix/nix.conf
         chown root.nixbld /nix/store
         chmod 1775 /nix/store
 
diff --git a/modules/services/scheduling/cron.nix b/modules/services/scheduling/cron.nix
index 9a81eb6e72c0..86ac32b94dca 100644
--- a/modules/services/scheduling/cron.nix
+++ b/modules/services/scheduling/cron.nix
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ let
       SHELL=${pkgs.bash}/bin/bash
       PATH=${config.system.path}/bin:${config.system.path}/sbin
       MAILTO="${config.services.cron.mailto}"
-      NIX_CONF_DIR=/nix/etc/nix
+      NIX_CONF_DIR=/etc/nix
       ${pkgs.lib.concatStrings (map (job: job + "\n") config.services.cron.systemCronJobs)}
     '';
 
diff --git a/modules/services/scheduling/fcron.nix b/modules/services/scheduling/fcron.nix
index bf70bb657272..1dbaefdd7190 100644
--- a/modules/services/scheduling/fcron.nix
+++ b/modules/services/scheduling/fcron.nix
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ let
       SHELL=${pkgs.bash}/bin/bash
       PATH=${config.system.path}/bin:${config.system.path}/sbin
       MAILTO="${config.services.cron.mailto}"
-      NIX_CONF_DIR=/nix/etc/nix
+      NIX_CONF_DIR=/etc/nix
       ${pkgs.lib.concatStrings (map (job: job + "\n") config.services.cron.systemCronJobs)}
     '';