diff --git a/src/nspawn/nspawn.c b/src/nspawn/nspawn.c
index 2a0edf6ab..51a1a6651 100644
--- a/src/nspawn/nspawn.c
+++ b/src/nspawn/nspawn.c
@@ -1968,6 +1968,7 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
                         else {
                                 chdir(home ? home : "/root");
                                 execle("/bin/bash", "-bash", NULL, env_use);
+                                execle("/bin/sh", "-sh", NULL, env_use);
                         }
 
                         log_error("execv() failed: %m");