diff --git a/projects/ArchR/packages/sysutils/systemd/package.mk b/projects/ArchR/packages/sysutils/systemd/package.mk
index 70a01d2c7a..63b5ec7ccd 100644
--- a/projects/ArchR/packages/sysutils/systemd/package.mk
+++ b/projects/ArchR/packages/sysutils/systemd/package.mk
@@ -266,6 +266,10 @@ post_makeinstall_target() {
   safe_remove ${INSTALL}/etc/udev/rules.d
   ln -sf /storage/.config/udev.rules.d ${INSTALL}/etc/udev/rules.d
 
+  # system manager timeout overrides
+  mkdir -p ${INSTALL}/etc/systemd/system.conf.d
+  cp -PR ${PKG_DIR}/config/system.conf.d/* ${INSTALL}/etc/systemd/system.conf.d/
+
   # journald
   ln -sf /storage/.cache/journald.conf.d ${INSTALL}/usr/lib/systemd/journald.conf.d
 }
diff --git a/projects/ROCKNIX/packages/sysutils/systemd/config/system.conf.d/10-shutdown-timeout.conf b/projects/ROCKNIX/packages/sysutils/systemd/config/system.conf.d/10-shutdown-timeout.conf
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..aa7f33ed73
--- /dev/null
+++ b/projects/ROCKNIX/packages/sysutils/systemd/config/system.conf.d/10-shutdown-timeout.conf
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+[Manager]
+# Reduce default service stop timeout from 90s to 5s.
+# ROCKNIX uses a read-only squashfs root with persistent storage at /storage/.
+# Network services don't need graceful shutdown — only filesystem sync matters,
+# which is handled by systemd's built-in shutdown ordering.
+DefaultTimeoutStopSec=5s
+DefaultTimeoutAbortSec=5s