diff --git a/nixos/modules/virtualisation/openstack-metadata-fetcher.nix b/nixos/modules/virtualisation/openstack-metadata-fetcher.nix
index 133cd4c0e9f9..25104bb47667 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/virtualisation/openstack-metadata-fetcher.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/virtualisation/openstack-metadata-fetcher.nix
@@ -15,7 +15,8 @@
   }
 
   wget_imds -O "$metaDir/ami-manifest-path" http://169.254.169.254/1.0/meta-data/ami-manifest-path
-  (umask 077 && wget_imds -O "$metaDir/user-data" http://169.254.169.254/1.0/user-data)
+  # When no user-data is provided, the OpenStack metadata server doesn't expose the user-data route.
+  (umask 077 && wget_imds -O "$metaDir/user-data" http://169.254.169.254/1.0/user-data || rm -f "$metaDir/user-data")
   wget_imds -O "$metaDir/hostname" http://169.254.169.254/1.0/meta-data/hostname
   wget_imds -O "$metaDir/public-keys-0-openssh-key" http://169.254.169.254/1.0/meta-data/public-keys/0/openssh-key
 ''