diff --git a/pkgs/shells/zsh/zsh-prezto/default.nix b/pkgs/shells/zsh/zsh-prezto/default.nix
index 98cbf2c80f0f..d3e2c6534aa2 100644
--- a/pkgs/shells/zsh/zsh-prezto/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/shells/zsh/zsh-prezto/default.nix
@@ -12,6 +12,11 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     fetchSubmodules = true;
   };
 
+  postPatch = ''
+    # make zshrc aware of where zsh-prezto is installed
+    sed -i -e "s|\''${ZDOTDIR:\-\$HOME}/.zprezto/|$out/share/zsh-prezto/|g" runcoms/zshrc
+  '';
+
   installPhase = ''
     mkdir -p $out/share/zsh-prezto
     cp -R ./ $out/share/zsh-prezto