diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/x11/display-managers/startx.nix b/nixos/modules/services/x11/display-managers/startx.nix
index 3980203b945..0b70154fe0d 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/services/x11/display-managers/startx.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/x11/display-managers/startx.nix
@@ -39,6 +39,10 @@ in
       displayManager.lightdm.enable = lib.mkForce false;
     };
     systemd.services.display-manager.enable = false;
+    # Implement xserverArgs via xinit's system-wide xserverrc
+    environment.etc."X11/xinit/xserverrc".source = pkgs.writeShellScript "xserverrc" ''
+      exec ${pkgs.xorg.xorgserver}/bin/X ${toString config.services.xserver.displayManager.xserverArgs} "$@"
+    '';
     environment.systemPackages =  with pkgs; [ xorg.xinit ];
   };