diff --git a/man/systemd.mount.xml b/man/systemd.mount.xml
index b4e2c79bde..98f71d2e7e 100644
--- a/man/systemd.mount.xml
+++ b/man/systemd.mount.xml
@@ -161,8 +161,15 @@
 
     <para>The NFS mount option <option>bg</option> for NFS background mounts
     as documented in <citerefentry project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>nfs</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
-    is not supported in <filename>/etc/fstab</filename> entries. The systemd mount option <option>nofail</option>
-    provides similar functionality and should be used instead.</para>
+    is detected by <command>systemd-fstab-generator</command> and the options
+    are transformed so that systemd fulfills the job-control implications of
+    that option.  Specifically <command>systemd-fstab-generator</command> acts
+    as though <literal>x-systemd.mount-timout=infinity,retry=10000</literal> was
+    prepended to the option list, and <literal>fg,nofail</literal> was appended.
+    Depending on specific requirements, it may be appropriate to provide some of
+    these options explicitly, or to make use of the
+    <literal>x-systemd.automount</literal> option described below instead
+    of using <literal>bg</literal>.</para>
 
     <para>When reading <filename>/etc/fstab</filename> a few special
     mount options are understood by systemd which influence how
diff --git a/src/fstab-generator/fstab-generator.c b/src/fstab-generator/fstab-generator.c
index 0bbc6c71bc..7688a75f12 100644
--- a/src/fstab-generator/fstab-generator.c
+++ b/src/fstab-generator/fstab-generator.c
@@ -358,6 +358,20 @@ static int add_mount(
                 "Documentation=man:fstab(5) man:systemd-fstab-generator(8)\n",
                 source);
 
+        if (STR_IN_SET(fstype, "nfs", "nfs4") && !automount &&
+            fstab_test_yes_no_option(opts, "bg\0" "fg\0")) {
+                /* The default retry timeout that mount.nfs uses for 'bg' mounts
+                 * is 10000 minutes, where as it uses 2 minutes for 'fg' mounts.
+                 * As we are making  'bg' mounts look like an 'fg' mount to
+                 * mount.nfs (so systemd can manage the job-control aspects of 'bg'),
+                 * we need to explicitly preserve that default, and also ensure
+                 * the systemd mount-timeout doesn't interfere.
+                 * By placing these options first, they can be over-ridden by
+                 * settings in /etc/fstab. */
+                opts = strjoina("x-systemd.mount-timeout=infinity,retry=10000,", opts, ",fg");
+                nofail = true;
+        }
+
         if (!nofail && !automount)
                 fprintf(f, "Before=%s\n", post);