diff --git a/nixos/tests/restic.nix b/nixos/tests/restic.nix
index 68777215c035..68ce843879b3 100644
--- a/nixos/tests/restic.nix
+++ b/nixos/tests/restic.nix
@@ -247,7 +247,7 @@ in
 
     restic.succeed(
         # test that remotebackup runs custom commands and produces a snapshot
-        "timedatectl set-time '2016-12-13 13:45'",
+        "date -s '2016-12-13 13:45'",
         "systemctl start restic-backups-remotebackup.service",
         "rm /root/backupCleanupCommand",
         'restic-remotebackup snapshots --json | ${pkgs.jq}/bin/jq "length | . == 1"',
@@ -255,7 +255,7 @@ in
 
     restic.succeed(
         # test that remotebackup runs custom commands and produces a snapshot
-        "timedatectl set-time '2016-12-13 13:45'",
+        "date -s '2016-12-13 13:45'",
         "systemctl start restic-backups-remotebackup.service",
         "rm /root/backupCleanupCommand",
         'restic-remotebackup snapshots --json | ${pkgs.jq}/bin/jq "length | . == 1"',
@@ -297,27 +297,27 @@ in
         "grep 'check.* --some-check-option' /root/fake-restic.log",
 
         # test that we can create four snapshots in remotebackup and rclonebackup
-        "timedatectl set-time '2017-12-13 13:45'",
+        "date -s '2017-12-13 13:45'",
         "systemctl start restic-backups-remotebackup.service",
         "rm /root/backupCleanupCommand",
         "systemctl start restic-backups-rclonebackup.service",
 
-        "timedatectl set-time '2018-12-13 13:45'",
+        "date -s '2018-12-13 13:45'",
         "systemctl start restic-backups-remotebackup.service",
         "rm /root/backupCleanupCommand",
         "systemctl start restic-backups-rclonebackup.service",
 
-        "timedatectl set-time '2018-12-14 13:45'",
+        "date -s '2018-12-14 13:45'",
         "systemctl start restic-backups-remotebackup.service",
         "rm /root/backupCleanupCommand",
         "systemctl start restic-backups-rclonebackup.service",
 
-        "timedatectl set-time '2018-12-15 13:45'",
+        "date -s '2018-12-15 13:45'",
         "systemctl start restic-backups-remotebackup.service",
         "rm /root/backupCleanupCommand",
         "systemctl start restic-backups-rclonebackup.service",
 
-        "timedatectl set-time '2018-12-16 13:45'",
+        "date -s '2018-12-16 13:45'",
         "systemctl start restic-backups-remotebackup.service",
         "rm /root/backupCleanupCommand",
         "systemctl start restic-backups-rclonebackup.service",