diff --git a/dissect/target/plugins/os/unix/locale.py b/dissect/target/plugins/os/unix/locale.py
index 1f4b6df85..e51e1f192 100644
--- a/dissect/target/plugins/os/unix/locale.py
+++ b/dissect/target/plugins/os/unix/locale.py
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+from pathlib import Path
+
 from dissect.target.helpers.localeutil import normalize_language
 from dissect.target.helpers.record import TargetRecordDescriptor
 from dissect.target.plugin import Plugin, export
@@ -14,6 +16,15 @@
 )
 
 
+def timezone_from_path(path: Path) -> str:
+    """Return timezone name for given zoneinfo path.
+
+    /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Amsterdam -> Europe/Amsterdam
+    """
+    zoneinfo_path = str(path).split("/")
+    return "/".join(zoneinfo_path[-2:])
+
+
 class LocalePlugin(Plugin):
     def check_compatible(self):
         pass
@@ -28,13 +39,27 @@ def timezone(self):
             for line in path.open("rt"):
                 return line.strip()
 
-        # /etc/localtime should be a symlink to
+        # /etc/localtime can be a symlink, hardlink or a copy of:
         # eg. /usr/share/zoneinfo/America/New_York
-        # on centos and some other distros
-        if (zoneinfo := self.target.fs.path("/etc/localtime")).exists():
-            zoneinfo_path = str(zoneinfo.readlink()).split("/")
-            timezone = "/".join(zoneinfo_path[-2:])
-            return timezone
+        p_localtime = self.target.fs.path("/etc/localtime")
+
+        # If it's a symlink, read the path of the symlink
+        if p_localtime.is_symlink():
+            return timezone_from_path(p_localtime.readlink())
+
+        # If it's a hardlink, try finding the hardlinked zoneinfo file
+        if p_localtime.exists() and p_localtime.stat().st_nlink > 1:
+            for path in self.target.fs.path("/usr/share/zoneinfo").rglob("*"):
+                if p_localtime.samefile(path):
+                    return timezone_from_path(path)
+
+        # If it's a regular file (probably copied), we try finding it by matching size and sha1 hash.
+        if p_localtime.is_file():
+            size = p_localtime.stat().st_size
+            sha1 = p_localtime.get().sha1()
+            for path in self.target.fs.path("/usr/share/zoneinfo").rglob("*"):
+                if path.is_file() and path.stat().st_size == size and path.get().sha1() == sha1:
+                    return timezone_from_path(path)
 
     @export(property=True)
     def language(self):
diff --git a/tests/test_plugins_os_unix_locale.py b/tests/test_plugins_os_unix_locale.py
index f64d68e3b..fdda52854 100644
--- a/tests/test_plugins_os_unix_locale.py
+++ b/tests/test_plugins_os_unix_locale.py
@@ -1,11 +1,19 @@
 from io import BytesIO
+from unittest.mock import patch
 
+from dissect.target.filesystem import (
+    VirtualDirectory,
+    VirtualFile,
+    VirtualFilesystem,
+    VirtualSymlink,
+)
 from dissect.target.plugins.os.unix.locale import LocalePlugin as UnixLocalePlugin
+from dissect.target.target import Target
 
 from ._utils import absolute_path
 
 
-def test_locale_plugin_unix(target_unix_users, fs_unix):
+def test_locale_plugin_unix(target_unix_users: Target, fs_unix: VirtualFilesystem) -> None:
     # Locale locations originate from Ubuntu 20.
     fs_unix.map_file_fh("/etc/timezone", BytesIO(b"Europe/Amsterdam"))
     fs_unix.map_file_fh("/etc/default/locale", BytesIO(b"LANG=en_US.UTF-8"))
@@ -23,9 +31,49 @@ def test_locale_plugin_unix(target_unix_users, fs_unix):
     assert keyboard[0].backspace == "guess"
 
 
-def test_locale_plugin_unix_quotes(target_unix_users, fs_unix):
+def test_locale_plugin_unix_quotes(target_unix_users: Target, fs_unix: VirtualFilesystem) -> None:
     # Older Fedora system
     fs_unix.map_file_fh("/etc/default/locale", BytesIO(b'LANG="en_US.UTF-8"'))
     target_unix_users.add_plugin(UnixLocalePlugin)
 
     assert target_unix_users.language == ["en_US"]
+
+
+def test_locale_etc_localtime_symlink(target_unix_users: Target, fs_unix: VirtualFilesystem) -> None:
+    fs_unix.symlink("/usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Amsterdam", "/etc/localtime")
+    target_unix_users.add_plugin(UnixLocalePlugin)
+
+    assert isinstance(fs_unix.get("/etc/localtime"), VirtualSymlink)
+    assert target_unix_users.timezone == "Europe/Amsterdam"
+
+
+def test_locale_etc_localtime_hardlink(target_unix_users: Target, fs_unix: VirtualFilesystem) -> None:
+    fs_unix.map_file_fh("/usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Amsterdam", BytesIO(b"contents of Europe/Amsterdam"))
+    fs_unix.link("/usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Amsterdam", "/etc/localtime")
+    target_unix_users.add_plugin(UnixLocalePlugin)
+
+    assert isinstance(fs_unix.get("/etc/localtime"), VirtualFile)
+    assert fs_unix.path("/etc/localtime").samefile(fs_unix.path("/usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Amsterdam"))
+
+    entry = fs_unix.get("/etc/localtime")
+    stat = entry.stat()
+    stat.st_nlink = 2
+
+    with patch.object(entry, "stat", return_value=stat):
+        assert entry.stat().st_nlink == 2
+        assert target_unix_users.timezone == "Europe/Amsterdam"
+
+
+def test_locale_etc_localtime_regular_file(target_unix_users: Target, fs_unix: VirtualFilesystem) -> None:
+    fs_unix.map_file_fh("/etc/localtime", BytesIO(b"contents of Europe/Amsterdam"))
+    fs_unix.map_file_fh("/usr/share/zoneinfo/UTC", BytesIO(b"contents of UTC"))
+    fs_unix.map_file_fh("/usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Amsterdam", BytesIO(b"contents of Europe/Amsterdam"))
+    fs_unix.map_file_fh("/usr/share/zoneinfo/America/New_York", BytesIO(b"contents of America/New_York"))
+    target_unix_users.add_plugin(UnixLocalePlugin)
+
+    assert isinstance(fs_unix.get("/etc/localtime"), VirtualFile)
+    assert isinstance(fs_unix.get("/usr/share/zoneinfo/UTC"), VirtualFile)
+    assert isinstance(fs_unix.get("/usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe"), VirtualDirectory)
+    assert isinstance(fs_unix.get("/usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Amsterdam"), VirtualFile)
+    assert isinstance(fs_unix.get("/usr/share/zoneinfo/America/New_York"), VirtualFile)
+    assert target_unix_users.timezone == "Europe/Amsterdam"