diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index dbba108ad1a..e2cf0007bba 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -299,6 +299,8 @@ conf.set10('MEMORY_ACCOUNTING_DEFAULT',                       memory_accounting_
 conf.set('STATUS_UNIT_FORMAT_DEFAULT',                        'STATUS_UNIT_FORMAT_' + status_unit_format_default.to_upper())
 conf.set_quoted('STATUS_UNIT_FORMAT_DEFAULT_STR',             status_unit_format_default)
 
+conf.set10('FIRST_BOOT_FULL_PRESET',                          get_option('first-boot-full-preset'))
+
 #####################################################################
 
 cc = meson.get_compiler('c')
@@ -4287,6 +4289,7 @@ foreach tuple : [
         ['link-networkd-shared',  get_option('link-networkd-shared')],
         ['link-timesyncd-shared', get_option('link-timesyncd-shared')],
         ['link-boot-shared',      get_option('link-boot-shared')],
+        ['first-boot-full-preset'],
         ['fexecve'],
         ['standalone-binaries',   get_option('standalone-binaries')],
         ['coverage',              get_option('b_coverage')],
diff --git a/meson_options.txt b/meson_options.txt
index 26d1170c504..3b059e16b2f 100644
--- a/meson_options.txt
+++ b/meson_options.txt
@@ -27,6 +27,8 @@ option('link-timesyncd-shared', type: 'boolean',
        description : 'link systemd-timesyncd and its helpers to libsystemd-shared.so')
 option('link-boot-shared', type: 'boolean',
        description : 'link bootctl and systemd-bless-boot against libsystemd-shared.so')
+option('first-boot-full-preset', type: 'boolean', value: false,
+       description : 'during first boot, do full preset-all (default will be changed to true later)')
 
 option('static-libsystemd', type : 'combo',
        choices : ['false', 'true', 'pic', 'no-pic'],
diff --git a/src/core/manager.c b/src/core/manager.c
index 296b7599598..bab766af31a 100644
--- a/src/core/manager.c
+++ b/src/core/manager.c
@@ -1728,7 +1728,9 @@ static void manager_preset_all(Manager *m) {
                 return;
 
         /* If this is the first boot, and we are in the host system, then preset everything */
-        r = unit_file_preset_all(LOOKUP_SCOPE_SYSTEM, 0, NULL, UNIT_FILE_PRESET_ENABLE_ONLY, NULL, 0);
+        UnitFilePresetMode mode = FIRST_BOOT_FULL_PRESET ? UNIT_FILE_PRESET_FULL : UNIT_FILE_PRESET_ENABLE_ONLY;
+
+        r = unit_file_preset_all(LOOKUP_SCOPE_SYSTEM, 0, NULL, mode, NULL, 0);
         if (r < 0)
                 log_full_errno(r == -EEXIST ? LOG_NOTICE : LOG_WARNING, r,
                                "Failed to populate /etc with preset unit settings, ignoring: %m");