diff --git a/src/basic/virt.c b/src/basic/virt.c
index 4c2280cfd6..212b3b7039 100644
--- a/src/basic/virt.c
+++ b/src/basic/virt.c
@@ -491,6 +491,16 @@ int detect_container(void) {
                 }
         }
 
+        /* The container manager might have placed this in the /run/host hierarchy for us, which is best
+         * because we can be consumed just like that, without special privileges. */
+        r = read_one_line_file("/run/host/container-manager", &m);
+        if (r > 0) {
+                e = m;
+                goto translate_name;
+        }
+        if (!IN_SET(r, -ENOENT, 0))
+                return log_debug_errno(r, "Failed to read /run/systemd/container: %m");
+
         if (getpid_cached() == 1) {
                 /* If we are PID 1 we can just check our own environment variable, and that's authoritative.
                  * We distinguish three cases:
diff --git a/src/nspawn/nspawn.c b/src/nspawn/nspawn.c
index c263b0ff70..3ad8829855 100644
--- a/src/nspawn/nspawn.c
+++ b/src/nspawn/nspawn.c
@@ -3564,6 +3564,14 @@ static int outer_child(
         if (r < 0)
                 return r;
 
+        /* The same stuff as the $container env var, but nicely readable for the entire payload */
+        p = prefix_roota(directory, "/run/host/container-manager");
+        (void) write_string_file(p, arg_container_service_name, WRITE_STRING_FILE_CREATE);
+
+        /* The same stuff as the $container_uuid env var */
+        p = prefix_roota(directory, "/run/host/container-uuid");
+        (void) write_string_filef(p, WRITE_STRING_FILE_CREATE, SD_ID128_UUID_FORMAT_STR, SD_ID128_FORMAT_VAL(arg_uuid));
+
         if (!arg_use_cgns) {
                 r = mount_cgroups(
                                 directory,