diff --git a/src/core/cgroup.c b/src/core/cgroup.c
index ce9c30fc6e..48149e15bd 100644
--- a/src/core/cgroup.c
+++ b/src/core/cgroup.c
@@ -2088,9 +2088,6 @@ static int unit_update_cgroup(
         if (!UNIT_HAS_CGROUP_CONTEXT(u))
                 return 0;
 
-        if (u->freezer_state != FREEZER_RUNNING)
-                return log_unit_error_errno(u, SYNTHETIC_ERRNO(EBUSY), "Cannot realize cgroup for frozen unit.");
-
         r = unit_get_cgroup_path_with_fallback(u, &cgroup);
         if (r < 0)
                 return log_unit_error_errno(u, r, "Failed to get cgroup path: %m");
diff --git a/src/core/service.c b/src/core/service.c
index aa8acdef78..4f8eaf4051 100644
--- a/src/core/service.c
+++ b/src/core/service.c
@@ -1418,7 +1418,8 @@ static int service_coldplug(Unit *u) {
                     SERVICE_DEAD_RESOURCES_PINNED))
                 (void) unit_setup_exec_runtime(u);
 
-        if (IN_SET(s->deserialized_state, SERVICE_START_POST, SERVICE_RUNNING, SERVICE_RELOAD, SERVICE_RELOAD_SIGNAL, SERVICE_RELOAD_NOTIFY, SERVICE_REFRESH_EXTENSIONS, SERVICE_MOUNTING))
+        if (IN_SET(s->deserialized_state, SERVICE_START_POST, SERVICE_RUNNING, SERVICE_RELOAD, SERVICE_RELOAD_SIGNAL, SERVICE_RELOAD_NOTIFY, SERVICE_REFRESH_EXTENSIONS, SERVICE_MOUNTING) &&
+            freezer_state_finish(u->freezer_state) == FREEZER_RUNNING)
                 service_start_watchdog(s);
 
         if (UNIT_ISSET(s->accept_socket)) {
diff --git a/test/units/TEST-38-FREEZER.sh b/test/units/TEST-38-FREEZER.sh
index 81682cfc01..5ce073d045 100755
--- a/test/units/TEST-38-FREEZER.sh
+++ b/test/units/TEST-38-FREEZER.sh
@@ -69,42 +69,18 @@ dbus_thaw_unit() {
            "$1"
 }
 
-dbus_can_freeze() {
-    local name object_path suffix
-
-    suffix="${1##*.}"
-    name="${1%".$suffix"}"
-    object_path="/org/freedesktop/systemd1/unit/${name//-/_2d}_2e${suffix}"
-
-    busctl get-property \
-           org.freedesktop.systemd1 \
-           "${object_path}" \
-           org.freedesktop.systemd1.Unit \
-           CanFreeze
-}
-
 check_freezer_state() {
-    local name object_path suffix
+    local name state expected
 
-    suffix="${1##*.}"
-    name="${1%".$suffix"}"
-    object_path="/org/freedesktop/systemd1/unit/${name//-/_2d}_2e${suffix}"
+    name="${1:?}"
+    expected="${2:?}"
 
-    for _ in {0..10}; do
-        state=$(busctl get-property \
-                       org.freedesktop.systemd1 \
-                       "${object_path}" \
-                       org.freedesktop.systemd1.Unit \
-                       FreezerState | cut -d " " -f2 | tr -d '"')
+    # Ignore the intermediate freezing & thawing states in case we check the unit state too quickly.
+    timeout 10 bash -c "while [[ \"\$(systemctl show \"$name\" --property FreezerState --value)\" =~ (freezing|thawing) ]]; do sleep .5; done"
 
-        # Ignore the intermediate freezing & thawing states in case we check
-        # the unit state too quickly
-        [[ "$state" =~ ^(freezing|thawing) ]] || break
-        sleep .5
-    done
-
-    [ "$state" = "$2" ] || {
-        echo "error: unexpected freezer state, expected: $2, actual: $state" >&2
+    state="$(systemctl show "$name" --property FreezerState --value)"
+    [[ "$state" = "$expected" ]] || {
+        echo "error: unexpected freezer state, expected: $expected, actual: $state" >&2
         exit 1
     }
 }
@@ -146,9 +122,8 @@ testcase_dbus_api() {
     check_cgroup_state "$unit" 0
     echo "[ OK ]"
 
-    echo -n "  - CanFreeze(): "
-    output=$(dbus_can_freeze "${unit}")
-    [ "$output" = "b true" ]
+    echo -n "  - CanFreeze: "
+    [[ "$(systemctl show "${unit}" --property=CanFreeze --value)" == 'yes' ]]
     echo "[ OK ]"
 
     echo
@@ -367,12 +342,36 @@ testcase_watchdog() {
         /bin/bash -c 'systemd-notify --ready; while true; do systemd-notify WATCHDOG=1; sleep 1; done'
 
     systemctl freeze "$unit"
-
     check_freezer_state "$unit" "frozen"
     sleep 6
     check_freezer_state "$unit" "frozen"
 
     systemctl thaw "$unit"
+    check_freezer_state "$unit" "running"
+    sleep 6
+    check_freezer_state "$unit" "running"
+    systemctl is-active "$unit"
+
+    systemctl freeze "$unit"
+    check_freezer_state "$unit" "frozen"
+    systemctl daemon-reload
+    sleep 6
+    check_freezer_state "$unit" "frozen"
+
+    systemctl thaw "$unit"
+    check_freezer_state "$unit" "running"
+    sleep 6
+    check_freezer_state "$unit" "running"
+    systemctl is-active "$unit"
+
+    systemctl freeze "$unit"
+    check_freezer_state "$unit" "frozen"
+    systemctl daemon-reexec
+    sleep 6
+    check_freezer_state "$unit" "frozen"
+
+    systemctl thaw "$unit"
+    check_freezer_state "$unit" "running"
     sleep 6
     check_freezer_state "$unit" "running"
     systemctl is-active "$unit"