diff --git a/nixos/modules/profiles/minimal.nix b/nixos/modules/profiles/minimal.nix
index 3b18ae129b9..c353da227ae 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/profiles/minimal.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/profiles/minimal.nix
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@ with lib;
 
 {
   environment.noXlibs = mkDefault true;
-  i18n.supportedLocales = [ config.i18n.defaultLocale ];
+
+  # This isn't perfect, but let's expect the user specifies an UTF-8 defaultLocale
+  i18n.supportedLocales = [ (config.i18n.defaultLocale + "/UTF-8") ];
   services.nixosManual.enable = mkDefault false;
 }