diff --git a/src/locale/localed-util.c b/src/locale/localed-util.c
index 598e89591c0..dd2bbf5bfb8 100644
--- a/src/locale/localed-util.c
+++ b/src/locale/localed-util.c
@@ -746,7 +746,7 @@ int locale_gen_enable_locale(const char *locale) {
                         return r;
                 r = copy_xattr(fileno(fr), fileno(fw), COPY_ALL_XATTRS);
                 if (r < 0)
-                        return r;
+                        log_debug_errno(r, "Failed to copy all xattrs from old to new /etc/locale.gen file, ignoring: %m");
         }
 
         if (!write_new) {