diff --git a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/shadow/default.nix b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/shadow/default.nix
index 321e94e3aaf4..7f0d40f6be1f 100644
--- a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/shadow/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/shadow/default.nix
@@ -53,5 +53,8 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   meta = {
     homepage = http://pkg-shadow.alioth.debian.org/;
     description = "Suite containing authentication-related tools such as passwd and su";
+    passthru = {
+      shellPath = "/bin/nologin";
+    };
   };
 }
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index 3331f6d6b03c..7c4cb7bb4f44 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -2233,6 +2233,9 @@ in
   else
     nodePackages_4_x;
 
+  # Can be used as a user shell
+  nologin = shadow;
+
   npm2nix = nodePackages.npm2nix;
 
   ldapvi = callPackage ../tools/misc/ldapvi { };