diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 5b1fbd64ba..a7465da80a 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -242,8 +242,10 @@ AC_ARG_WITH([systemdsystemunitdir],
  AS_HELP_STRING([--with-systemdsystemunitdir=DIR], [Directory for systemd service files]),
  [],
  [with_systemdsystemunitdir=$($PKG_CONFIG --variable=systemdsystemunitdir systemd)])
-AC_SUBST([systemdsystemunitdir], [$with_systemdsystemunitdir])
-AM_CONDITIONAL(HAVE_SYSTEMD, [test -n "$with_systemdsystemunitdir"])
+if test "x$with_systemdsystemunitdir" != xno; then
+	AC_SUBST([systemdsystemunitdir], [$with_systemdsystemunitdir])
+fi
+AM_CONDITIONAL(HAVE_SYSTEMD, [test -n "$with_systemdsystemunitdir" -a "x$with_systemdsystemunitdir" != xno ])
 
 PKG_CHECK_MODULES(LIBNL, libnl-1 >= 1.0-pre8)
 AC_SUBST(LIBNL_CFLAGS)