diff --git a/src/tmpfiles/tmpfiles.c b/src/tmpfiles/tmpfiles.c
index 07432a1e51..8012d0d5df 100644
--- a/src/tmpfiles/tmpfiles.c
+++ b/src/tmpfiles/tmpfiles.c
@@ -3082,6 +3082,14 @@ static int parse_line(
         if (r < 0)
                 return r;
 
+        if (!path_is_absolute(i.path)) {
+                *invalid_config = true;
+                return log_syntax(NULL, LOG_ERR, fname, line, SYNTHETIC_ERRNO(EBADMSG),
+                                  "Path '%s' not absolute.", i.path);
+        }
+
+        path_simplify(i.path);
+
         switch (i.type) {
 
         case CREATE_DIRECTORY:
@@ -3153,6 +3161,13 @@ static int parse_line(
                 }
 
                 path_simplify(i.argument);
+
+                if (laccess(i.argument, F_OK) == -ENOENT) {
+                        /* Silently skip over lines where the source file is missing. */
+                        log_syntax(NULL, LOG_INFO, fname, line, 0, "Copy source path '%s' does not exist, skipping line.", i.argument);
+                        return 0;
+                }
+
                 break;
 
         case CREATE_CHAR_DEVICE:
@@ -3231,14 +3246,6 @@ static int parse_line(
                                   "Unknown command type '%c'.", (char) i.type);
         }
 
-        if (!path_is_absolute(i.path)) {
-                *invalid_config = true;
-                return log_syntax(NULL, LOG_ERR, fname, line, SYNTHETIC_ERRNO(EBADMSG),
-                                  "Path '%s' not absolute.", i.path);
-        }
-
-        path_simplify(i.path);
-
         if (!should_include_path(i.path))
                 return 0;
 
diff --git a/test/units/testsuite-22.02.sh b/test/units/testsuite-22.02.sh
index 0719d68292..49c55f136b 100755
--- a/test/units/testsuite-22.02.sh
+++ b/test/units/testsuite-22.02.sh
@@ -116,6 +116,8 @@ test "$(stat -c %U:%G:%a /tmp/C/2/f1)" = "daemon:daemon:755"
 
 systemd-tmpfiles --create - <<EOF
 C     /tmp/C/3    0755 daemon daemon - /tmp/C/3-origin
+C     /tmp/C/4    0755 daemon daemon - /tmp/C/definitely-missing
 EOF
 
 test "$(stat -c %U:%G:%a /tmp/C/3/f1)" = "root:root:644"
+test ! -e /tmp/C/4