diff --git a/src/remote/libvirtd.service.in b/src/remote/libvirtd.service.in
index 4c5b28b478..82892b4f70 100644
--- a/src/remote/libvirtd.service.in
+++ b/src/remote/libvirtd.service.in
@@ -2,9 +2,12 @@
 Description=Virtualization daemon
 Requires=virtlogd.socket
 Requires=virtlockd.socket
-Requires=libvirtd.socket
-Requires=libvirtd-ro.socket
-Requires=libvirtd-admin.socket
+# Use Wants instead of Requires so that users
+# can disable these three .socket units to revert
+# to a traditional non-activation deployment setup
+Wants=libvirtd.socket
+Wants=libvirtd-ro.socket
+Wants=libvirtd-admin.socket
 Wants=systemd-machined.service
 Before=libvirt-guests.service
 After=network.target