diff --git a/modules/services/network-filesystems/nfs-kernel.nix b/modules/services/network-filesystems/nfs-kernel.nix
index c3974881f0a..e9c42237e0d 100644
--- a/modules/services/network-filesystems/nfs-kernel.nix
+++ b/modules/services/network-filesystems/nfs-kernel.nix
@@ -162,7 +162,7 @@ in
             description = "Kernel NFS server - Network Status Monitor";
 
             startOn = "${if cfg.server.enable then "starting nfs-kernel-nfsd and " else ""} started portmap";
-            stopOn = if cfg.server.enable then "stopped nfs-kernel-nfsd" else "starting shutdown";
+            stopOn = "never";
 
             preStart =
               ''	
diff --git a/modules/services/networking/portmap.nix b/modules/services/networking/portmap.nix
index eead1c52ff0..9c0d559f867 100644
--- a/modules/services/networking/portmap.nix
+++ b/modules/services/networking/portmap.nix
@@ -67,6 +67,7 @@ in
       { description = "ONC RPC portmap";
 
         startOn = "started network-interfaces";
+        stopOn = "never";
 
         daemonType = "fork";
 
diff --git a/modules/system/activation/activation-script.nix b/modules/system/activation/activation-script.nix
index 5327740c631..637f2503466 100644
--- a/modules/system/activation/activation-script.nix
+++ b/modules/system/activation/activation-script.nix
@@ -75,7 +75,6 @@ let
 
     var = fullDepEntry ''
       # Various log/runtime directories.
-      mkdir -m 0755 -p /var/run
 
       touch /var/run/utmp # must exist
       chgrp ${toString config.ids.gids.utmp} /var/run/utmp
@@ -84,16 +83,6 @@ let
       mkdir -m 0755 -p /var/run/nix/current-load # for distributed builds
       mkdir -m 0700 -p /var/run/nix/remote-stores
 
-      # Use a tmpfs for /var/run/nscd to ensure that / or /var can be
-      # unmounted or at least remounted read-only during shutdown.
-      # (Upstart 0.6 apparently uses nscd to do some name lookups,
-      # resulting in it holding some mmap mapping to deleted files in
-      # /var/run/nscd.)
-      if [ ! -e /var/run/nscd ]; then
-          mkdir -p /var/run/nscd
-          ${pkgs.utillinux}/bin/mount -t tmpfs -o "mode=755" none /var/run/nscd
-      fi
-
       mkdir -m 0755 -p /var/log
       mkdir -m 0755 -p /var/log/upstart
 
diff --git a/modules/system/boot/stage-2-init.sh b/modules/system/boot/stage-2-init.sh
index 69c67de6e3a..201c539bb6b 100644
--- a/modules/system/boot/stage-2-init.sh
+++ b/modules/system/boot/stage-2-init.sh
@@ -109,6 +109,16 @@ rm -rf /var/log/upstart
 rm -rf /nix/var/nix/chroots # recreated in activate-configuration.sh
 
 
+# Use a tmpfs for /var/run to ensure that / or /var can be unmounted
+# or at least remounted read-only during shutdown.  (Upstart 0.6
+# apparently uses nscd to do some name lookups, resulting in it
+# holding some mmap mapping to deleted files in /var/run/nscd.
+# Similarly, portmap and statd have open files in /var/run and are
+# needed during shutdown to unmount NFS volumes.)
+mkdir -m 0755 -p /var/run
+mount -t tmpfs -o "mode=755" none /var/run
+
+
 # Clear the resume device.
 if test -n "$resumeDevice"; then
     mkswap "$resumeDevice" || echo 'Failed to clear saved image.'
diff --git a/modules/system/upstart-events/shutdown.nix b/modules/system/upstart-events/shutdown.nix
index 2aad17cd1ac..1b2b63cd9c0 100644
--- a/modules/system/upstart-events/shutdown.nix
+++ b/modules/system/upstart-events/shutdown.nix
@@ -37,14 +37,19 @@ with pkgs.lib;
           sync
 
 
-          # Kill all remaining processes except init and this one.
+          # Kill all remaining processes except init, this one and any
+          # Upstart jobs that don't stop on the "starting shutdown"
+          # event, as these are necessary to complete the shutdown.
+          omittedPids=$(initctl list | sed -e 's/.*process \([0-9]\+\)/-o \1/;t;d')
+          #echo "saved PIDs: $omittedPids"
+          
           echo "sending the TERM signal to all processes..."
-          kill -TERM -1
+          ${pkgs.sysvtools}/bin/killall5 -15 $job $omittedPids
       
           sleep 1 # wait briefly
 
           echo "sending the KILL signal to all processes..."
-          kill -KILL -1
+          ${pkgs.sysvtools}/bin/killall5 -9 $job $omittedPids
 
 
           # If maintenance mode is requested, start a root shell, and
@@ -71,8 +76,8 @@ with pkgs.lib;
 
           # Stop all swap devices.
           swapoff -a
-      
-      
+
+
           # Unmount file systems.  We repeat this until no more file systems
           # can be unmounted.  This is to handle loopback devices, file
           # systems  mounted on other file systems and so on.
@@ -84,7 +89,7 @@ with pkgs.lib;
               cp /proc/mounts /dev/.mounts # don't read /proc/mounts while it's changing
               exec 4< /dev/.mounts
               while read -u 4 device mp fstype options rest; do
-                  if [ "$mp" = /proc -o "$mp" = /sys -o "$mp" = /dev -o "$device" = "rootfs" -o "$mp" = /var/run/nscd ]; then continue; fi
+                  if [ "$mp" = /proc -o "$mp" = /sys -o "$mp" = /dev -o "$device" = "rootfs" -o "$mp" = /var/run ]; then continue; fi
               
                   echo "unmounting $mp..."
 
diff --git a/tests/nfs.nix b/tests/nfs.nix
index 1e021eb10c1..f8d1cf951f3 100644
--- a/tests/nfs.nix
+++ b/tests/nfs.nix
@@ -71,6 +71,14 @@ in
       $server->start;
       $client1->succeed("touch /data/xyzzy");
       $client1->fail("time flock -n -s /data/lock true");
+
+      # Test whether unmounting during shutdown happens quickly.  This
+      # requires portmap and statd to keep running during the
+      # shutdown.
+      my $t1 = time;
+      $client1->shutdown;
+      my $duration = time - $t1;
+      die "shutdown took too long ($duration seconds)" if $duration > 30;
     '';
 
 }