diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/misc/gitlab.nix b/nixos/modules/services/misc/gitlab.nix
index aa72cda70453..07adf58c9b26 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/services/misc/gitlab.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/misc/gitlab.nix
@@ -564,11 +564,11 @@ in {
         [ -L /run/gitlab/log ] || ln -sf ${cfg.statePath}/log /run/gitlab/log
         [ -L /run/gitlab/tmp ] || ln -sf ${cfg.statePath}/tmp /run/gitlab/tmp
         [ -L /run/gitlab/uploads ] || ln -sf ${cfg.statePath}/uploads /run/gitlab/uploads
+        cp ${cfg.packages.gitlab}/share/gitlab/VERSION ${cfg.statePath}/VERSION
+        cp -rf ${cfg.packages.gitlab}/share/gitlab/config.dist/* ${cfg.statePath}/config
         ${optionalString cfg.smtp.enable ''
           ln -sf ${smtpSettings} ${cfg.statePath}/config/initializers/smtp_settings.rb
         ''}
-        cp ${cfg.packages.gitlab}/share/gitlab/VERSION ${cfg.statePath}/VERSION
-        cp -rf ${cfg.packages.gitlab}/share/gitlab/config.dist/* ${cfg.statePath}/config
         ${pkgs.openssl}/bin/openssl rand -hex 32 > ${cfg.statePath}/config/gitlab_shell_secret
 
         # JSON is a subset of YAML
diff --git a/nixos/tests/gitlab.nix b/nixos/tests/gitlab.nix
index 53675c375e31..661caa8aa832 100644
--- a/nixos/tests/gitlab.nix
+++ b/nixos/tests/gitlab.nix
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ import ./make-test.nix ({ pkgs, lib, ...} : with lib; {
         enable = true;
         databasePassword = "dbPassword";
         initialRootPassword = "notproduction";
+        smtp.enable = true;
         secrets = {
           secret = "secret";
           otp = "otpsecret";