diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/x11/desktop-managers/gnome3.nix b/nixos/modules/services/x11/desktop-managers/gnome3.nix
index 0b81a3f2d9b..40787968e03 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/services/x11/desktop-managers/gnome3.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/x11/desktop-managers/gnome3.nix
@@ -94,6 +94,9 @@ in {
           # Let gnome-control-center find gnome-shell search providers
           export GNOME_SEARCH_PROVIDERS_DIR=${config.system.path}/share/gnome-shell/search-providers/
 
+          # Let nautilus find extensions
+          export NAUTILUS_EXTENSION_DIR=${config.system.path}/lib/nautilus/extensions-3.0/
+
           # Update user dirs as described in http://freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/xdg-user-dirs/
           ${pkgs.xdg-user-dirs}/bin/xdg-user-dirs-update
 
diff --git a/pkgs/desktops/gnome-3/3.12/core/nautilus/default.nix b/pkgs/desktops/gnome-3/3.12/core/nautilus/default.nix
index 888f622ef33..dceb7c817bd 100644
--- a/pkgs/desktops/gnome-3/3.12/core/nautilus/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/desktops/gnome-3/3.12/core/nautilus/default.nix
@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
       --prefix XDG_DATA_DIRS : "$XDG_ICON_DIRS:$out/share:$GSETTINGS_SCHEMAS_PATH"
   '';
 
+  patches = [ ./extension_dir.patch ];
+
   meta = with stdenv.lib; {
     platforms = platforms.linux;
   };
diff --git a/pkgs/desktops/gnome-3/3.12/core/nautilus/extension_dir.patch b/pkgs/desktops/gnome-3/3.12/core/nautilus/extension_dir.patch
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..317b8257992
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/desktops/gnome-3/3.12/core/nautilus/extension_dir.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+diff --git a/libnautilus-private/nautilus-module.c b/libnautilus-private/nautilus-module.c
+index 6273a76..4adcc8a 100644
+--- a/libnautilus-private/nautilus-module.c
++++ b/libnautilus-private/nautilus-module.c
+@@ -242,11 +242,17 @@ void
+ nautilus_module_setup (void)
+ {
+ 	static gboolean initialized = FALSE;
++	const gchar* extensiondir = NULL;
+ 
+ 	if (!initialized) {
+ 		initialized = TRUE;
+-		
+-		load_module_dir (NAUTILUS_EXTENSIONDIR);
++	
++		extensiondir = g_getenv ("NAUTILUS_EXTENSION_DIR");
++		if (extensiondir == NULL) {
++			extensiondir = NAUTILUS_EXTENSIONDIR;
++		}
++	
++		load_module_dir (extensiondir);
+ 
+ 		eel_debug_call_at_shutdown (free_module_objects);
+ 	}