diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/cluster/kubernetes/pki.nix b/nixos/modules/services/cluster/kubernetes/pki.nix
index 92eefae5bda..be0b50e9329 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/services/cluster/kubernetes/pki.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/cluster/kubernetes/pki.nix
@@ -124,10 +124,6 @@ in
       top.caFile
       certmgrAPITokenPath
     ];
-    proxyPaths = mkIf top.proxy.enable [
-      cfg.certs.kubeProxyClient.cert
-      cfg.certs.kubeProxyClient.key
-    ];
     schedulerPaths = mkIf top.scheduler.enable [
       cfg.certs.schedulerClient.cert
       cfg.certs.schedulerClient.key
@@ -366,19 +362,6 @@ in
         127.0.0.1 etcd.${top.addons.dns.clusterDomain} etcd.local
       '';
 
-      systemd.services.kube-proxy = mkIf top.proxy.enable {
-        environment = { inherit (top.pki.certs.kubeProxyClient) cert key; };
-        unitConfig.ConditionPathExists = proxyPaths;
-      };
-
-      systemd.paths.kube-proxy = mkIf top.proxy.enable {
-        wantedBy = [ "kube-proxy.service" ];
-        pathConfig = {
-          PathExists = proxyPaths;
-          PathChanged = proxyPaths;
-        };
-      };
-
       services.kubernetes = {
 
         apiserver = mkIf top.apiserver.enable (with cfg.certs.apiServer; {
diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/cluster/kubernetes/proxy.nix b/nixos/modules/services/cluster/kubernetes/proxy.nix
index 65d4f9ccbfc..8a90542fe63 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/services/cluster/kubernetes/proxy.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/cluster/kubernetes/proxy.nix
@@ -45,18 +45,27 @@ in
   };
 
   ###### implementation
-  config = mkIf cfg.enable {
-    systemd.services.kube-proxy = {
+  config = let
+
+    proxyPaths = filter (a: a != null) [
+      cfg.kubeconfig.caFile
+      cfg.kubeconfig.certFile
+      cfg.kubeconfig.keyFile
+    ];
+
+  in mkIf cfg.enable {
+    systemd.services.kube-proxy = rec {
       description = "Kubernetes Proxy Service";
       wantedBy = [ "kube-node-online.target" ];
       after = [ "kubelet-online.service" ];
       before = [ "kube-node-online.target" ];
-      path = with pkgs; [ iptables conntrack_tools ];
+      environment.KUBECONFIG = top.lib.mkKubeConfig "kube-proxy" cfg.kubeconfig;
+      path = with pkgs; [ iptables conntrack_tools kubectl ];
       preStart = ''
-        ${top.lib.mkWaitCurl ( with config.systemd.services.kube-proxy; {
-          path = "/api/v1/nodes/${top.kubelet.hostname}";
-          cacert = top.caFile;
-        } // optionalAttrs (environment ? cert) { inherit (environment) cert key; })}
+        until kubectl auth can-i get nodes/${top.kubelet.hostname} -q 2>/dev/null; do
+          echo kubectl auth can-i get nodes/${top.kubelet.hostname}: exit status $?
+          sleep 2
+        done
       '';
       serviceConfig = {
         Slice = "kubernetes.slice";
@@ -66,7 +75,7 @@ in
             "--cluster-cidr=${top.clusterCidr}"} \
           ${optionalString (cfg.featureGates != [])
             "--feature-gates=${concatMapStringsSep "," (feature: "${feature}=true") cfg.featureGates}"} \
-          --kubeconfig=${top.lib.mkKubeConfig "kube-proxy" cfg.kubeconfig} \
+          --kubeconfig=${environment.KUBECONFIG} \
           ${optionalString (cfg.verbosity != null) "--v=${toString cfg.verbosity}"} \
           ${cfg.extraOpts}
         '';
@@ -74,6 +83,15 @@ in
         Restart = "on-failure";
         RestartSec = 5;
       };
+      unitConfig.ConditionPathExists = proxyPaths;
+    };
+
+    systemd.paths.kube-proxy = {
+      wantedBy = [ "kube-proxy.service" ];
+      pathConfig = {
+        PathExists = proxyPaths;
+        PathChanged = proxyPaths;
+      };
     };
 
     services.kubernetes.pki.certs = {