diff --git a/pkgs/stdenv/generic/setup.sh b/pkgs/stdenv/generic/setup.sh
index d8de9ab2390..102a8f2f71c 100644
--- a/pkgs/stdenv/generic/setup.sh
+++ b/pkgs/stdenv/generic/setup.sh
@@ -480,9 +480,11 @@ _defaultUnpack() {
     if [ -d "$fn" ]; then
 
         stripHash "$fn"
-        # We can't preserve hardlinks because they may have been introduced by
-        # store optimization, which might break things in the build
-        cp -pr --reflink=auto --no-preserve=timestamps "$fn" $strippedName
+
+        # We can't preserve hardlinks because they may have been
+        # introduced by store optimization, which might break things
+        # in the build.
+        cp -pr --reflink=auto "$fn" $strippedName
 
     else