diff --git a/src/conf_macros.m4 b/src/conf_macros.m4
index c0efc3ad1..07fef0c1a 100644
--- a/src/conf_macros.m4
+++ b/src/conf_macros.m4
@@ -227,14 +227,14 @@ AC_DEFUN([WITH_SYSTEMD_CONF_DIR],
   if test x"$with_systemdconfdir" != x; then
     systemdconfdir=$with_systemdconfdir
   else
-    pkgconfigdir=${prefix}$($PKG_CONFIG --variable=systemdsystemconfdir systemd)
+    pkgconfigdir=$($PKG_CONFIG --variable=systemdsystemconfdir systemd)
     if test x"$pkgconfigdir" = x; then
       AC_MSG_ERROR([Could not detect systemd config directory])
     fi
-    if test "${pkgconfigdir:0:${#prefix}}" = "${prefix}"; then
+    if test "${pkgconfigdir:0:${#sysconfdir}}" = "${sysconfdir}"; then
         systemdconfdir=${pkgconfigdir}
     else
-        systemdconfdir=${prefix}${pkgconfigdir}
+        systemdconfdir=${sysconfdir}${pkgconfigdir}
     fi
   fi
   AC_SUBST(systemdconfdir, [$systemdconfdir/sssd.service.d])