diff --git a/src/tmpfiles/tmpfiles.c b/src/tmpfiles/tmpfiles.c
index 071070e9f6..032673f08d 100644
--- a/src/tmpfiles/tmpfiles.c
+++ b/src/tmpfiles/tmpfiles.c
@@ -2354,7 +2354,7 @@ static int process_item(Item *i, OperationMask operation) {
 
         i->done |= operation;
 
-        r = chase_symlinks(i->path, arg_root, CHASE_NO_AUTOFS|CHASE_WARN, NULL, NULL);
+        r = chase_symlinks(i->path, arg_root, CHASE_NO_AUTOFS|CHASE_NONEXISTENT|CHASE_WARN, NULL, NULL);
         if (r == -EREMOTE) {
                 log_notice_errno(r, "Skipping %s", i->path);
                 return 0;