diff --git a/nixos/modules/virtualisation/qemu-vm.nix b/nixos/modules/virtualisation/qemu-vm.nix
index 47318ca4d600..0832ca937d32 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/virtualisation/qemu-vm.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/virtualisation/qemu-vm.nix
@@ -194,6 +194,7 @@ let
           -L ${nixStoreFilesystemLabel} \
           -U eb176051-bd15-49b7-9e6b-462e0b467019 \
           -T 0 \
+          --hard-dereference \
           --tar=f \
           "$TMPDIR"/store.img