diff --git a/modules/users/default.nix b/modules/users/default.nix
index daadde3f..e791a49a 100644
--- a/modules/users/default.nix
+++ b/modules/users/default.nix
@@ -139,10 +139,7 @@ in
           dscl . -create '/Users/${v.name}' RealName '${v.description}'
           dscl . -create '/Users/${v.name}' NFSHomeDirectory '${v.home}'
           dscl . -create '/Users/${v.name}' UserShell '${v.shell}'
-          ${optionalString (v.home != "/var/empty") ''
-            mkdir -p '${v.home}'
-            chown '${toString v.uid}:${toString v.gid}' '${v.home}'
-          ''}
+          ${optionalString v.createHome "createhomedir -cu '${v.name}'"}
         else
           if [ "$u" -ne ${toString v.uid} ]; then
             echo "warning: existing user '${v.name}' has unexpected uid $u, skipping..." >&2
diff --git a/modules/users/user.nix b/modules/users/user.nix
index ec8ecb83..44fb1071 100644
--- a/modules/users/user.nix
+++ b/modules/users/user.nix
@@ -51,6 +51,12 @@ with lib;
       description = "The user's home directory.";
     };
 
+    createHome = mkOption {
+      type = types.bool;
+      default = false;
+      description = "Create the home directory when creating the user.";
+    };
+
     shell = mkOption {
       type = types.either types.shellPackage types.path;
       default = "/sbin/nologin";
diff --git a/tests/users-groups.nix b/tests/users-groups.nix
index ef372043..c5d86717 100644
--- a/tests/users-groups.nix
+++ b/tests/users-groups.nix
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
   users.users.foo.description = "Foo user";
   users.users.foo.isHidden = false;
   users.users.foo.home = "/Users/foo";
+  users.users.foo.createHome = true;
   users.users.foo.shell = "/run/current-system/sw/bin/bash";
 
   users.users."created.user".uid = 42001;
@@ -47,6 +48,7 @@
     grep "dscl . -create '/Users/foo' NFSHomeDirectory '/Users/foo'" ${config.out}/activate
     grep "dscl . -create '/Users/foo' UserShell '/run/current-system/sw/bin/bash'" ${config.out}/activate
     grep "dscl . -create '/Users/created.user' UniqueID 42001" ${config.out}/activate
+    grep "createhomedir -cu 'foo'" ${config.out}/activate
     grep -qv "dscl . -delete '/Groups/created.user'" ${config.out}/activate
 
     echo "checking user deletion in /activate" >&2