diff --git a/mkosi.images/system/mkosi.extra/usr/lib/sysusers.d/testuser.conf b/mkosi.images/system/mkosi.extra/usr/lib/sysusers.d/testuser.conf
deleted file mode 100644
index 9d65a0ee09b04..0000000000000
--- a/mkosi.images/system/mkosi.extra/usr/lib/sysusers.d/testuser.conf
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-u	testuser	4711	"Test User"	/home/testuser
diff --git a/mkosi.images/system/mkosi.extra/usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/testuser.conf b/mkosi.images/system/mkosi.extra/usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/testuser.conf
deleted file mode 100644
index 1b6ecb6f541ea..0000000000000
--- a/mkosi.images/system/mkosi.extra/usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/testuser.conf
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-q	/home/testuser	0700	4711	4711
diff --git a/mkosi.images/system/mkosi.postinst.chroot b/mkosi.images/system/mkosi.postinst.chroot
index aaf4ac504e2fb..46868020f6a92 100755
--- a/mkosi.images/system/mkosi.postinst.chroot
+++ b/mkosi.images/system/mkosi.postinst.chroot
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@
 set -e
 set -o nounset
 
+useradd --uid 4711 --create-home --user-group testuser
+
 if command -v authselect >/dev/null; then
     # authselect 1.5.0 renamed the minimal profile to the local profile without keeping backwards compat so
     # let's use the new name if it exists.