diff --git a/home-manager/po/home-manager.pot b/home-manager/po/home-manager.pot
index c74e70e64..2ca746427 100644
--- a/home-manager/po/home-manager.pot
+++ b/home-manager/po/home-manager.pot
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ msgid ""
 msgstr ""
 "Project-Id-Version: Home Manager\n"
 "Report-Msgid-Bugs-To: https://github.com/nix-community/home-manager/issues\n"
-"POT-Creation-Date: 2026-01-20 21:51+0100\n"
+"POT-Creation-Date: 2026-01-21 09:53+0100\n"
 "PO-Revision-Date: YEAR-MO-DA HO:MI+ZONE\n"
 "Last-Translator: FULL NAME <EMAIL@ADDRESS>\n"
 "Language-Team: LANGUAGE <LL@li.org>\n"
diff --git a/modules/home-environment.nix b/modules/home-environment.nix
index 32c3ce6b5..bc131015d 100644
--- a/modules/home-environment.nix
+++ b/modules/home-environment.nix
@@ -847,10 +847,10 @@ in
           ${builtins.readFile ./lib-bash/activation-init.sh}
 
           if [[ ! -v SKIP_SANITY_CHECKS ]]; then
-            checkUsername ${lib.escapeShellArg config.home.username}
-            checkHomeDirectory ${lib.escapeShellArg config.home.homeDirectory}
+            checkStringEq USER "$USER" ${lib.escapeShellArg config.home.username}
+            checkPathEq HOME "$HOME" ${lib.escapeShellArg config.home.homeDirectory}
             ${lib.optionalString (config.home.uid != null) ''
-              checkUid ${toString config.home.uid}
+              checkStringEq UID "$(id -u)" ${toString config.home.uid}
             ''}
           fi
 
diff --git a/modules/lib-bash/activation-init.sh b/modules/lib-bash/activation-init.sh
index 0054be42e..b16494e25 100755
--- a/modules/lib-bash/activation-init.sh
+++ b/modules/lib-bash/activation-init.sh
@@ -99,33 +99,28 @@ function nixProfileRemove() {
     fi
 }
 
-function checkUsername() {
-  local expectedUser="$1"
+function checkStringEq() {
+    local name="$1"
+    local actual="$2"
+    local expected="$3"
 
-  if [[ "$USER" != "$expectedUser" ]]; then
-    _iError 'USER is set to "%s" but we expect "%s"' "$USER" "$expectedUser"
-    exit 1
-  fi
+    if [[ "$actual" != "$expected" ]]; then
+        # translators: For example: HOME is "/home/foo", expected "/home/bar"
+        _iError '%s is "%s", expected "%s"' "$name" "$actual" "$expected"
+        exit 1
+    fi
 }
 
-function checkHomeDirectory() {
-  local expectedHome="$1"
+function checkPathEq() {
+    local name="$1"
+    local actual="$2"
+    local expected="$3"
 
-  if ! [[ $HOME -ef $expectedHome ]]; then
-    _iError 'HOME is set to "%s" but we expect "%s"' "$HOME" "$expectedHome"
-    exit 1
-  fi
-}
-
-function checkUid() {
-  local expectedUid="$1"
-  local actualUid
-  actualUid="$(id -u)"
-
-  if [[ "$actualUid" != "$expectedUid" ]]; then
-    _iError 'UID is "%s" but we expect "%s"' "$actualUid" "$expectedUid"
-    exit 1
-  fi
+    if ! [[ "$actual" -ef "$expected" ]]; then
+        # translators: For example: HOME is "/home/foo", expected "/home/bar"
+        _iError '%s is "%s", expected "%s"' "$name" "$actual" "$expected"
+        exit 1
+    fi
 }
 
 # Note, the VERBOSE_ECHO variable is deprecated and should not be used inside
diff --git a/modules/po/hm-modules.pot b/modules/po/hm-modules.pot
index d8b5d3d11..6b264ef38 100644
--- a/modules/po/hm-modules.pot
+++ b/modules/po/hm-modules.pot
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ msgid ""
 msgstr ""
 "Project-Id-Version: Home Manager Modules\n"
 "Report-Msgid-Bugs-To: https://github.com/nix-community/home-manager/issues\n"
-"POT-Creation-Date: 2026-01-20 21:51+0100\n"
+"POT-Creation-Date: 2026-01-21 09:53+0100\n"
 "PO-Revision-Date: YEAR-MO-DA HO:MI+ZONE\n"
 "Last-Translator: FULL NAME <EMAIL@ADDRESS>\n"
 "Language-Team: LANGUAGE <LL@li.org>\n"
@@ -65,38 +65,32 @@ msgstr ""
 msgid "Could not find suitable profile directory, tried %s and %s"
 msgstr ""
 
-#: modules/lib-bash/activation-init.sh:106
-msgid "USER is set to \"%s\" but we expect \"%s\""
+#. translators: For example: HOME is "/home/foo", expected "/home/bar"
+#: modules/lib-bash/activation-init.sh:109
+#: modules/lib-bash/activation-init.sh:121
+msgid "%s is \"%s\", expected \"%s\""
 msgstr ""
 
-#: modules/lib-bash/activation-init.sh:115
-msgid "HOME is set to \"%s\" but we expect \"%s\""
-msgstr ""
-
-#: modules/lib-bash/activation-init.sh:126
-msgid "UID is \"%s\" but we expect \"%s\""
-msgstr ""
-
-#: modules/lib-bash/activation-init.sh:143
+#: modules/lib-bash/activation-init.sh:138
 msgid "Starting Home Manager activation"
 msgstr ""
 
-#: modules/lib-bash/activation-init.sh:147
+#: modules/lib-bash/activation-init.sh:142
 msgid "Sanity checking Nix"
 msgstr ""
 
-#: modules/lib-bash/activation-init.sh:160
+#: modules/lib-bash/activation-init.sh:155
 msgid "This is a dry run"
 msgstr ""
 
-#: modules/lib-bash/activation-init.sh:164
+#: modules/lib-bash/activation-init.sh:159
 msgid "This is a live run"
 msgstr ""
 
-#: modules/lib-bash/activation-init.sh:170
+#: modules/lib-bash/activation-init.sh:165
 msgid "Using Nix version: %s"
 msgstr ""
 
-#: modules/lib-bash/activation-init.sh:173
+#: modules/lib-bash/activation-init.sh:168
 msgid "Activation variables:"
 msgstr ""
diff --git a/tests/modules/home-environment/uid-null.nix b/tests/modules/home-environment/uid-null.nix
index 6f1b915c9..e7dae767f 100644
--- a/tests/modules/home-environment/uid-null.nix
+++ b/tests/modules/home-environment/uid-null.nix
@@ -2,6 +2,6 @@
   # home.uid defaults to null, so checkUid should not be called in the activation script
 
   nmt.script = ''
-    assertFileNotRegex activate "checkUid [0-9]+"
+    assertFileNotRegex activate "checkStringEq UID"
   '';
 }
diff --git a/tests/modules/home-environment/uid.nix b/tests/modules/home-environment/uid.nix
index 06093971c..54c2111aa 100644
--- a/tests/modules/home-environment/uid.nix
+++ b/tests/modules/home-environment/uid.nix
@@ -2,6 +2,6 @@
   home.uid = 1000;
 
   nmt.script = ''
-    assertFileContains activate "checkUid 1000"
+    assertFileContains activate 'checkStringEq UID "$(id -u)" 1000'
   '';
 }