diff --git a/man/NetworkManager.conf.xml b/man/NetworkManager.conf.xml
index 3308f68e17..6f333acd6f 100644
--- a/man/NetworkManager.conf.xml
+++ b/man/NetworkManager.conf.xml
@@ -366,8 +366,9 @@ no-auto-default=*
         a symlink.</para>
         <para><literal>file</literal>: NetworkManager will write
         <filename>/etc/resolv.conf</filename> as file. If it finds
-        a symlink, it will follow the symlink and update the target
-        instead.</para>
+        a symlink to an existing target, it will follow the symlink and
+        update the target instead. If the symlink's target does not exist,
+        the symlink will be replaced by a file.</para>
         <para><literal>resolvconf</literal>: NetworkManager will run
         resolvconf to update the DNS configuration.</para>
         <para><literal>netconfig</literal>: NetworkManager will run
diff --git a/src/dns/nm-dns-manager.c b/src/dns/nm-dns-manager.c
index 7430365c14..354520b3a7 100644
--- a/src/dns/nm-dns-manager.c
+++ b/src/dns/nm-dns-manager.c
@@ -797,6 +797,10 @@ update_resolv_conf (NMDnsManager *self,
 		GError *local = NULL;
 
 		if (rc_manager == NM_DNS_MANAGER_RESOLV_CONF_MAN_FILE) {
+			/* Note that if /etc/resolv.conf is a dangling symlink, realpath()
+			 * will return %NULL, and thus below we will replace the symlink
+			 * with a file. This is the only case, in which NetworkManager
+			 * replaces an existing symlink with a file.*/
 			rc_path_real = realpath (rc_path, NULL);
 			if (rc_path_real)
 				rc_path = rc_path_real;