diff --git a/nix/libstore/local-store.cc
b/nix/libstore/local-store.cc
index 3b08492c64..3793382361 100644
--- a/nix/libstore/local-store.cc
+++ b/nix/libstore/local-store.cc
@@ -88,8 +88,9 @@ LocalStore::LocalStore(bool reserveSpace)
Path perUserDir = profilesDir + "/per-user";
createDirs(perUserDir);
- if (chmod(perUserDir.c_str(), 01777) == -1)
- throw SysError(format("could not set permissions on
'%1%' to 1777") % perUserDir);
+ if (chmod(perUserDir.c_str(), 0755) == -1)
+ throw SysError(format("could not set permissions on
'%1%' to 755")
+ % perUserDir);
mode_t perm = 01775;