diff --git a/templates/nix-config/misc/activation.nix b/templates/nix-config/misc/activation.nix
index 18c4994..4b34f2e 100644
--- a/templates/nix-config/misc/activation.nix
+++ b/templates/nix-config/misc/activation.nix
@@ -6,8 +6,6 @@
     wantedBy = [ "multi-user.target" ];
     after = [ "network.target" "local-fs.target" ];
     serviceConfig = {
-      User = "numbus-admin";
-      Environment = [ "XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=/run/user/1000" ];
       Type = "oneshot";
       RemainAfterExit = true;
     };
@@ -20,7 +18,10 @@
       ${pkgs.coreutils}/bin/chown -R numbus-admin:users /mnt/config/
       ${pkgs.coreutils}/bin/chown -R numbus-admin:users /mnt/data/
 
+      ${pkgs.util-linux}/bin/runuser -u numbus-admin -- ${pkgs.bash}/bin/bash -c '
+        export XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=/run/user/1000
 PODMAN_NETWORKS
+      '
 
       ${pkgs.coreutils}/bin/touch /etc/numbus-server/activated.true
     '';