diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/networking/nsd.nix b/nixos/modules/services/networking/nsd.nix
index f33c350a257a..2ac0a8c7922e 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/services/networking/nsd.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/networking/nsd.nix
@@ -20,6 +20,15 @@ let
 
   mkZoneFileName = name: if name == "." then "root" else name;
 
+  # replaces include: directives for keys with fake keys for nsd-checkconf
+  injectFakeKeys = keys: concatStrings
+    (mapAttrsToList
+      (keyName: keyOptions: ''
+        fakeKey="$(${pkgs.bind}/bin/tsig-keygen -a ${escapeShellArgs [ keyOptions.algorithm keyName ]} | grep -oP "\s*secret \"\K.*(?=\";)")"
+        sed "s@^\s*include:\s*\"${stateDir}/private/${keyName}\"\$@secret: $fakeKey@" -i $out/nsd.conf
+      '')
+      keys);
+
   nsdEnv = pkgs.buildEnv {
     name = "nsd-env";
 
@@ -34,9 +43,9 @@ let
         echo "|- checking zone '$out/zones/$zoneFile'"
         ${nsdPkg}/sbin/nsd-checkzone "$zoneFile" "$zoneFile" || {
           if grep -q \\\\\\$ "$zoneFile"; then
-            echo zone "$zoneFile" contains escaped dollar signes \\\$
-            echo Escaping them is not needed any more. Please make shure \
-                 to unescape them where they prefix a variable name
+            echo zone "$zoneFile" contains escaped dollar signs \\\$
+            echo Escaping them is not needed any more. Please make sure \
+                 to unescape them where they prefix a variable name.
           fi
 
           exit 1
@@ -44,7 +53,14 @@ let
       done
 
       echo "checking configuration file"
+      # Save original config file including key references...
+      cp $out/nsd.conf{,.orig}
+      # ...inject mock keys into config
+      ${injectFakeKeys cfg.keys}
+      # ...do the checkconf
       ${nsdPkg}/sbin/nsd-checkconf $out/nsd.conf
+      # ... and restore original config file.
+      mv $out/nsd.conf{.orig,}
     '';
   };
 
diff --git a/nixos/tests/nsd.nix b/nixos/tests/nsd.nix
index a558ee0a4254..7387f4f1dfa1 100644
--- a/nixos/tests/nsd.nix
+++ b/nixos/tests/nsd.nix
@@ -43,6 +43,10 @@ in import ./make-test-python.nix ({ pkgs, ...} : {
       services.nsd.enable = true;
       services.nsd.rootServer = true;
       services.nsd.interfaces = lib.mkForce [];
+      services.nsd.keys."tsig.example.com." = {
+        algorithm = "hmac-sha256";
+        keyFile = pkgs.writeTextFile { name = "tsig.example.com."; text = "aR3FJA92+bxRSyosadsJ8Aeeav5TngQW/H/EF9veXbc="; };
+      };
       services.nsd.zones."example.com.".data = ''
         @ SOA ns.example.com noc.example.com 666 7200 3600 1209600 3600
         ipv4 A 1.2.3.4
@@ -51,6 +55,7 @@ in import ./make-test-python.nix ({ pkgs, ...} : {
         ns A 192.168.0.1
         ns AAAA dead:beef::1
       '';
+      services.nsd.zones."example.com.".provideXFR = [ "0.0.0.0 tsig.example.com." ];
       services.nsd.zones."deleg.example.com.".data = ''
         @ SOA ns.example.com noc.example.com 666 7200 3600 1209600 3600
         @ A 9.8.7.6
@@ -71,6 +76,10 @@ in import ./make-test-python.nix ({ pkgs, ...} : {
     clientv6.wait_for_unit("network.target")
     server.wait_for_unit("nsd.service")
 
+    with subtest("server tsig.example.com."):
+        expected_tsig = "  secret: \"aR3FJA92+bxRSyosadsJ8Aeeav5TngQW/H/EF9veXbc=\"\n"
+        tsig=server.succeed("cat /var/lib/nsd/private/tsig.example.com.")
+        assert expected_tsig == tsig, f"Expected /var/lib/nsd/private/tsig.example.com. to contain '{expected_tsig}', but found '{tsig}'"
 
     def assert_host(type, rr, query, expected):
         self = clientv4 if type == 4 else clientv6