diff --git a/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-2009.xml b/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-2009.xml
index 688671efffc..97b94c5756a 100644
--- a/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-2009.xml
+++ b/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-2009.xml
@@ -124,6 +124,12 @@ systemd.services.mysql.serviceConfig.ReadWritePaths = [ "/var/data" ];
      <varname>services.postfix.sslCACert</varname> was replaced by <varname>services.postfix.tlsTrustedAuthorities</varname> which now defaults to system certifcate authorities.
     </para>
    </listitem>
+   <listitem>
+    <para>
+      Subordinate GID and UID mappings are now set up automatically for all normal users.
+      This will make container tools like Podman work as non-root users out of the box.
+    </para>
+   </listitem>
   </itemizedlist>
  </section>
 
diff --git a/nixos/modules/config/update-users-groups.pl b/nixos/modules/config/update-users-groups.pl
index 15e448b787a..e1c7a46e430 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/config/update-users-groups.pl
+++ b/nixos/modules/config/update-users-groups.pl
@@ -281,3 +281,58 @@ foreach my $u (values %usersOut) {
 }
 
 updateFile("/etc/shadow", \@shadowNew, 0600);
+
+# Rewrite /etc/subuid & /etc/subgid to include default container mappings
+
+my $subUidMapFile = "/var/lib/nixos/auto-subuid-map";
+my $subUidMap = -e $subUidMapFile ? decode_json(read_file($subUidMapFile)) : {};
+
+my (%subUidsUsed, %subUidsPrevUsed);
+
+$subUidsPrevUsed{$_} = 1 foreach values %{$subUidMap};
+
+sub allocSubUid {
+    my ($name, @rest) = @_;
+
+    # TODO: No upper bounds?
+    my ($min, $max, $up) = (100000, 100000 * 100, 1);
+    my $prevId = $subUidMap->{$name};
+    if (defined $prevId && !defined $subUidsUsed{$prevId}) {
+        $subUidsUsed{$prevId} = 1;
+        return $prevId;
+    }
+
+    my $id = allocId(\%subUidsUsed, \%subUidsPrevUsed, $min, $max, $up, sub { my ($uid) = @_; getpwuid($uid) });
+    my $offset = $id - 100000;
+    my $count = $offset * 65536;
+    my $subordinate = 100000 + $count;
+    return $subordinate;
+}
+
+my @subGids;
+my @subUids;
+foreach my $u (values %usersOut) {
+    my $name = $u->{name};
+
+    foreach my $range (@{$u->{subUidRanges}}) {
+        my $value = join(":", ($name, $range->{startUid}, $range->{count}));
+        push @subUids, $value;
+    }
+
+    foreach my $range (@{$u->{subGidRanges}}) {
+        my $value = join(":", ($name, $range->{startGid}, $range->{count}));
+        push @subGids, $value;
+    }
+
+    if($u->{isNormalUser}) {
+        my $subordinate = allocSubUid($name);
+        $subUidMap->{$name} = $subordinate;
+        my $value = join(":", ($name, $subordinate, 65536));
+        push @subUids, $value;
+        push @subGids, $value;
+    }
+}
+
+updateFile("/etc/subuid", join("\n", @subUids) . "\n");
+updateFile("/etc/subgid", join("\n", @subGids) . "\n");
+updateFile($subUidMapFile, encode_json($subUidMap) . "\n");
diff --git a/nixos/modules/config/users-groups.nix b/nixos/modules/config/users-groups.nix
index 7e5f3582ae8..ee64f785f5b 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/config/users-groups.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/config/users-groups.nix
@@ -375,18 +375,6 @@ let
     };
   };
 
-  mkSubuidEntry = user: concatStrings (
-    map (range: "${user.name}:${toString range.startUid}:${toString range.count}\n")
-      user.subUidRanges);
-
-  subuidFile = concatStrings (map mkSubuidEntry (attrValues cfg.users));
-
-  mkSubgidEntry = user: concatStrings (
-    map (range: "${user.name}:${toString range.startGid}:${toString range.count}\n")
-        user.subGidRanges);
-
-  subgidFile = concatStrings (map mkSubgidEntry (attrValues cfg.users));
-
   idsAreUnique = set: idAttr: !(fold (name: args@{ dup, acc }:
     let
       id = builtins.toString (builtins.getAttr idAttr (builtins.getAttr name set));
@@ -406,6 +394,7 @@ let
       { inherit (u)
           name uid group description home createHome isSystemUser
           password passwordFile hashedPassword
+          isNormalUser subUidRanges subGidRanges
           initialPassword initialHashedPassword;
         shell = utils.toShellPath u.shell;
       }) cfg.users;
@@ -567,16 +556,7 @@ in {
     # Install all the user shells
     environment.systemPackages = systemShells;
 
-    environment.etc = {
-      subuid = {
-        text = subuidFile;
-        mode = "0644";
-      };
-      subgid = {
-        text = subgidFile;
-        mode = "0644";
-      };
-    } // (mapAttrs' (name: { packages, ... }: {
+    environment.etc = (mapAttrs' (name: { packages, ... }: {
       name = "profiles/per-user/${name}";
       value.source = pkgs.buildEnv {
         name = "user-environment";
diff --git a/nixos/modules/virtualisation/containers.nix b/nixos/modules/virtualisation/containers.nix
index 105f0f2710e..55546ebfda8 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/virtualisation/containers.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/virtualisation/containers.nix
@@ -23,6 +23,15 @@ in
     maintainers = [] ++ lib.teams.podman.members;
   };
 
+
+  imports = [
+    (
+      lib.mkRemovedOptionModule
+      [ "virtualisation" "containers" "users" ]
+      "All users with `isNormaUser = true` set now get appropriate subuid/subgid mappings."
+    )
+  ];
+
   options.virtualisation.containers = {
 
     enable =
@@ -99,15 +108,6 @@ in
       '';
     };
 
-    users = mkOption {
-      default = [];
-      type = types.listOf types.str;
-      description = ''
-        List of users to set up subuid/subgid mappings for.
-        This is a requirement for running rootless containers.
-      '';
-    };
-
   };
 
   config = lib.mkIf cfg.enable {
@@ -122,26 +122,6 @@ in
       registries = lib.mapAttrs (n: v: { registries = v; }) cfg.registries;
     };
 
-    users.extraUsers = builtins.listToAttrs (
-      (
-        builtins.foldl' (
-          acc: user: {
-            values = acc.values ++ [
-              {
-                name = user;
-                value = {
-                  subUidRanges = [ { startUid = acc.offset; count = 65536; } ];
-                  subGidRanges = [ { startGid = acc.offset; count = 65536; } ];
-                };
-              }
-            ];
-            offset = acc.offset + 65536;
-          }
-        )
-        { values = []; offset = 100000; } (lib.unique cfg.users)
-      ).values
-    );
-
     environment.etc."containers/policy.json".source =
       if cfg.policy != {} then pkgs.writeText "policy.json" (builtins.toJSON cfg.policy)
       else copyFile "${pkgs.skopeo.src}/default-policy.json";
diff --git a/nixos/tests/podman.nix b/nixos/tests/podman.nix
index 7a83689a49a..aea1516c4f7 100644
--- a/nixos/tests/podman.nix
+++ b/nixos/tests/podman.nix
@@ -12,9 +12,6 @@ import ./make-test-python.nix (
         { pkgs, ... }:
         {
           virtualisation.podman.enable = true;
-          virtualisation.containers.users = [
-            "alice"
-          ];
 
           users.users.alice = {
             isNormalUser = true;