diff --git a/nixos/tests/systemd.nix b/nixos/tests/systemd.nix
index 6aa979d41d5a..d04b3a374570 100644
--- a/nixos/tests/systemd.nix
+++ b/nixos/tests/systemd.nix
@@ -125,17 +125,6 @@
       # wait for user services
       machine.wait_for_unit("default.target", "alice")
 
-      with subtest("systemctl edit suggests --runtime"):
-          # --runtime is suggested when using `systemctl edit`
-          ret, out = machine.execute("systemctl edit testservice1.service 2>&1")
-          assert ret == 1
-          assert out.rstrip("\n") == "The unit-directory '/etc/systemd/system' is read-only on NixOS, so it's not possible to edit system-units directly. Use 'systemctl edit --runtime' instead."
-          # editing w/o `--runtime` is possible for user-services, however
-          # it's not possible because we're not in a tty when grepping
-          # (i.e. hacky way to ensure that the error from above doesn't appear here).
-          _, out = machine.execute("systemctl --user edit testservice2.service 2>&1")
-          assert out.rstrip("\n") == "Cannot edit units interactively if not on a tty."
-
       # Regression test for https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/issues/105049
       with subtest("systemd reads timezone database in /etc/zoneinfo"):
           timer = machine.succeed("TZ=UTC systemctl show --property=TimersCalendar oncalendar-test.timer")
diff --git a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/systemd/0016-systemctl-edit-suggest-systemdctl-edit-runtime-on-sy.patch b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/systemd/0016-systemctl-edit-suggest-systemdctl-edit-runtime-on-sy.patch
deleted file mode 100644
index e106791f3115..000000000000
--- a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/systemd/0016-systemctl-edit-suggest-systemdctl-edit-runtime-on-sy.patch
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,45 +0,0 @@
-From 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
-From: Maximilian Bosch <maximilian@mbosch.me>
-Date: Fri, 1 Sep 2023 09:57:02 +0200
-Subject: [PATCH] systemctl-edit: suggest `systemdctl edit --runtime` on system
- scope
-
-This is a NixOS-specific change. When trying to modify a unit with
-`systemctl edit` on NixOS, it'll fail with "Read-only file system":
-
-    $ systemctl edit libvirtd
-    Failed to open "/etc/systemd/system/libvirtd.service.d/.#override.conffa9825a0c9a249eb": Read-only file system
-
-This is because `/etc/systemd/system` is a symlink into the store. In
-fact, I'd consider this a feature rather than a bug since this ensures I
-don't introduce state imperatively.
-
-However, people wrongly assume that it's not possible to edit units
-ad-hoc and re-deploy their system for quick&dirty debugging where this
-would be absolutely fine (and doable with `--runtime` which adds a
-transient and non-persistent unit override in `/run`).
-
-To make sure that people learn about it quicker, this patch
-throws an error which suggests using `--runtime` when running
-`systemctl edit` on the system scope.
-
-For the user scope this isn't needed because user-level unit overrides
-are written into `$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/systemd/user`.
----
- src/systemctl/systemctl-edit.c | 3 +++
- 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+)
-
-diff --git a/src/systemctl/systemctl-edit.c b/src/systemctl/systemctl-edit.c
-index a28180922a..22c9c8fdbd 100644
---- a/src/systemctl/systemctl-edit.c
-+++ b/src/systemctl/systemctl-edit.c
-@@ -336,6 +336,9 @@ int verb_edit(int argc, char *argv[], void *userdata) {
-         sd_bus *bus = NULL;
-         int r;
- 
-+        if (!arg_runtime && arg_runtime_scope == RUNTIME_SCOPE_SYSTEM)
-+                return log_error_errno(SYNTHETIC_ERRNO(EINVAL), "The unit-directory '/etc/systemd/system' is read-only on NixOS, so it's not possible to edit system-units directly. Use 'systemctl edit --runtime' instead.");
-+
-         if (!on_tty() && !arg_stdin)
-                 return log_error_errno(SYNTHETIC_ERRNO(EINVAL), "Cannot edit units interactively if not on a tty.");
- 
diff --git a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/systemd/default.nix b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/systemd/default.nix
index 583836a8769e..7301f50e86c9 100644
--- a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/systemd/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/systemd/default.nix
@@ -242,7 +242,6 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
     ./0009-add-rootprefix-to-lookup-dir-paths.patch
     ./0012-path-util.h-add-placeholder-for-DEFAULT_PATH_NORMAL.patch
     ./0014-core-don-t-taint-on-unmerged-usr.patch
-    ./0016-systemctl-edit-suggest-systemdctl-edit-runtime-on-sy.patch
 
     # systemd tries to link the systemd-ssh-proxy ssh config snippet with tmpfiles
     # if the install prefix is not /usr, but that does not work for us