diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 6d44e0147..3e3bd5dd9 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -422,6 +422,7 @@ ExternalProject_Add(generate_translations_header
 
 add_library(libunbound INTERFACE)
 add_library(miniupnpc INTERFACE)
+add_library(systemd INTERFACE)  # Will do nothing unless we find and enable systemd support
 
 # Allow -D DOWNLOAD_SODIUM=FORCE to download without even checking for a local libsodium
 option(DOWNLOAD_SODIUM "Allow libsodium to be downloaded and built locally if not found on the system" OFF)
@@ -445,6 +446,19 @@ endif()
 export(TARGETS sodium NAMESPACE sodium:: FILE sodium-exports.cmake)
 install(TARGETS sodium EXPORT sodiumConfig DESTINATION ${CMAKE_INSTALL_LIBDIR})
 
+option(WITH_SYSTEMD "Attempts to link against and enable systemd daemon notification support" ON)
+if (WITH_SYSTEMD)
+  pkg_check_modules(SYSTEMD libsystemd IMPORTED_TARGET)
+
+    if(SYSTEMD_FOUND)
+      target_compile_definitions(systemd INTERFACE ENABLE_SYSTEMD)
+      target_link_libraries(systemd INTERFACE PkgConfig::SYSTEMD)
+    else()
+      message(WARNING "systemd not found; building without systemd support (use -DWITH_SYSTEMD=OFF to suppress this warning)")
+    endif()
+endif()
+
+
 add_subdirectory(external)
 
 target_compile_definitions(easylogging PRIVATE AUTO_INITIALIZE_EASYLOGGINGPP)
diff --git a/src/cryptonote_core/CMakeLists.txt b/src/cryptonote_core/CMakeLists.txt
index b3097cb87..67ef2803e 100644
--- a/src/cryptonote_core/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/cryptonote_core/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -55,18 +55,9 @@ target_link_libraries(cryptonote_core
   PRIVATE
     Boost::program_options
     Boost::chrono
+    systemd
     extra)
 
-option(WITH_SYSTEMD "Attempts to link against and enable systemd daemon notification support" ON)
-if (WITH_SYSTEMD)
-    pkg_check_modules(SYSTEMD libsystemd)
-
-    if(SYSTEMD_FOUND)
-      target_compile_definitions(cryptonote_core PRIVATE ENABLE_SYSTEMD)
-      target_link_libraries(cryptonote_core PRIVATE ${SYSTEMD_LIBRARIES})
-    endif()
-endif()
-
 if(PER_BLOCK_CHECKPOINT)
   target_compile_definitions(cryptonote_core PUBLIC PER_BLOCK_CHECKPOINT)
   target_link_libraries(cryptonote_core PUBLIC blocks)