diff --git a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/nvidia-x11/generic.nix b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/nvidia-x11/generic.nix
index eb4d3ae224a0..4573766b78ba 100644
--- a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/nvidia-x11/generic.nix
+++ b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/nvidia-x11/generic.nix
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ let
       else throw "nvidia-x11 does not support platform ${stdenv.system}";
 
     # patch to get the nvidia and nvidiaBeta driver to compile on kernel 4.10
-    patches = if versionOlder version "375"
+    patches = if libsOnly || versionOlder version "375"
               then null
               else [ (fetchurl {
                       url = https://git.archlinux.org/svntogit/packages.git/plain/trunk/kernel_4.10.patch?h=packages/nvidia;  sha256 = "0zhpx3baq2pca2pmz1af5cp2nzjxjx0j9w5xrdy204mnv3v2708z";