diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/accountservice/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/accountservice/default.nix
index 9734a6bc9804..0ff5466e5c4f 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/accountservice/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/accountservice/default.nix
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
-{ stdenv, fetchurl, pkgconfig, glib, intltool
-, libtool, gobjectIntrospection, polkit, systemd }:
+{ stdenv, fetchurl, pkgconfig, glib, intltool, makeWrapper
+, libtool, gobjectIntrospection, polkit, systemd, coreutils }:
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   name = "accountsservice-0.6.35";
@@ -9,8 +9,19 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     sha256 = "0f1hzl6hw56xvwgmd4yvmdyj15xj1fafw45pzv3qarww7h0wg8b5";
   };
 
-  buildInputs = [ pkgconfig glib intltool libtool
+  buildInputs = [ pkgconfig glib intltool libtool makeWrapper
                   gobjectIntrospection polkit systemd ];
 
-  configureFlags = [ "--with-systemdsystemunitdir=$(out)/etc/systemd/system" ];
+  configureFlags = [ "--with-systemdsystemunitdir=$(out)/etc/systemd/system"
+                     "--localstatedir=/var" ];
+
+  patches = [ ./no-create-dirs.patch ];
+  patchFlags = "-p0";
+  
+  preFixup = ''
+    wrapProgram "$out/libexec/accounts-daemon" \
+      --run "${coreutils}/bin/mkdir -p /var/lib/AccountsService/users" \
+      --run "${coreutils}/bin/mkdir -p /var/lib/AccountsService/icons"
+  '';
+
 }
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/accountservice/no-create-dirs.patch b/pkgs/development/libraries/accountservice/no-create-dirs.patch
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..a0c7ca23598f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/accountservice/no-create-dirs.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+--- src/Makefile.in.orig	2014-04-23 22:30:00.276005326 +0200
++++ src/Makefile.in	2014-04-23 22:30:16.809409113 +0200
+@@ -881,8 +881,8 @@
+ 	gdbus-codegen --generate-c-code accounts-user-generated --c-namespace Accounts --interface-prefix=org.freedesktop.Accounts. $(top_srcdir)/data/org.freedesktop.Accounts.User.xml
+ 
+ install-data-hook:
+-	$(MKDIR_P) "$(DESTDIR)$(localstatedir)/lib/AccountsService/users"
+-	$(MKDIR_P) "$(DESTDIR)$(localstatedir)/lib/AccountsService/icons"
++#	$(MKDIR_P) "$(DESTDIR)$(localstatedir)/lib/AccountsService/users"
++#	$(MKDIR_P) "$(DESTDIR)$(localstatedir)/lib/AccountsService/icons"
+ 
+ # Tell versions [3.59,3.63) of GNU make to not export all variables.
+ # Otherwise a system limit (for SysV at least) may be exceeded.