diff --git a/home-manager/home-manager b/home-manager/home-manager
index 65c54c637120..3acaf1a79836 100644
--- a/home-manager/home-manager
+++ b/home-manager/home-manager
@@ -249,6 +249,14 @@ function doRmGenerations() {
 function doExpireGenerations() {
     local profileDir="/nix/var/nix/profiles/per-user/$USER"
 
+    if ! [[ -d "${profileDir}" ]]; then
+        if [[ -v VERBOSE ]]; then
+            echo "No generations to expire"
+        fi
+
+        return
+    fi
+
     local generations
     generations="$( \
         find "$profileDir" -name 'home-manager-*-link' -not -newermt "$1" \
diff --git a/modules/lib-bash/activation-init.sh b/modules/lib-bash/activation-init.sh
index 5cdb66e5920f..6e67dc3388a5 100755
--- a/modules/lib-bash/activation-init.sh
+++ b/modules/lib-bash/activation-init.sh
@@ -5,6 +5,14 @@ function setupVars() {
     local gcPath="/nix/var/nix/gcroots/per-user/$USER"
     local greatestGenNum
 
+    if [[ ! -d "${profilesPath}" ]]; then
+        mkdir -p "${profilesPath}"
+    fi
+
+    if [[ ! -d "${gcPath}" ]]; then
+        mkdir -p "${gcPath}"
+    fi
+
     greatestGenNum=$( \
         find "$profilesPath" -name 'home-manager-*-link' \
             | sed 's/^.*-\([0-9]*\)-link$/\1/' \
@@ -13,30 +21,15 @@ function setupVars() {
 
     if [[ -n $greatestGenNum ]] ; then
         oldGenNum=$greatestGenNum
-        newGenNum=$((oldGenNum + 1))
     else
-        newGenNum=1
+        oldGenNum=0
     fi
+    newGenNum=$((oldGenNum + 1))
 
     if [[ -e $gcPath/current-home ]] ; then
         oldGenPath="$(readlink -e "$gcPath/current-home")"
     fi
 
-    $VERBOSE_ECHO "Sanity checking oldGenNum and oldGenPath"
-    if [[ -v oldGenNum && ! -v oldGenPath
-            || ! -v oldGenNum && -v oldGenPath ]]; then
-        errorEcho "Invalid profile number and GC root values! These must be"
-        errorEcho "either both empty or both set but are now set to"
-        errorEcho "    '${oldGenNum:-}' and '${oldGenPath:-}'"
-        errorEcho "If you don't mind losing previous profile generations then"
-        errorEcho "the easiest solution is probably to run"
-        errorEcho "   rm $profilesPath/home-manager*"
-        errorEcho "   rm $gcPath/current-home"
-        errorEcho "and trying home-manager switch again. Good luck!"
-        exit 1
-    fi
-
-
     genProfilePath="$profilesPath/home-manager"
     newGenPath="@GENERATION_DIR@";
     newGenProfilePath="$profilesPath/home-manager-$newGenNum-link"
@@ -69,7 +62,7 @@ if [[ -v VERBOSE ]]; then
 fi
 
 $VERBOSE_ECHO "Activation variables:"
-if [[ -v oldGenNum ]] ; then
+if [[ -v oldGenNum ]] && [[ "${oldGenNum}" -gt 0 ]] ; then
     $VERBOSE_ECHO "  oldGenNum=$oldGenNum"
     $VERBOSE_ECHO "  oldGenPath=$oldGenPath"
 else