diff --git a/src/shared/install.c b/src/shared/install.c
index dd2bd5c9484..c94b456c21e 100644
--- a/src/shared/install.c
+++ b/src/shared/install.c
@@ -2282,7 +2282,9 @@ static int install_context_mark_for_removal(
                         else {
                                 log_debug_errno(r, "Unit %s not found, removing name.", i->name);
                                 r = install_changes_add(changes, n_changes, r, i->path ?: i->name, NULL);
-                                if (r < 0)
+                                /* In case there's no unit, we still want to remove any leftover symlink, even if
+                                 * the unit might have been removed already, hence treating ENOENT as non-fatal. */
+                                if (r != -ENOENT)
                                         return r;
                         }
                 } else if (r < 0) {
@@ -2874,9 +2876,13 @@ static int do_unit_file_disable(
                 r = install_info_add(&ctx, *name, NULL, lp->root_dir, /* auxiliary= */ false, &info);
                 if (r >= 0)
                         r = install_info_traverse(&ctx, lp, info, SEARCH_LOAD|SEARCH_FOLLOW_CONFIG_SYMLINKS, NULL);
-
-                if (r < 0)
-                        return install_changes_add(changes, n_changes, r, *name, NULL);
+                if (r < 0) {
+                        r = install_changes_add(changes, n_changes, r, *name, NULL);
+                        /* In case there's no unit, we still want to remove any leftover symlink, even if
+                         * the unit might have been removed already, hence treating ENOENT as non-fatal. */
+                        if (r != -ENOENT)
+                                return r;
+                }
 
                 /* If we enable multiple units, some with install info and others without,
                  * the "empty [Install] section" warning is not shown. Let's make the behavior
diff --git a/test/units/TEST-26-SYSTEMCTL.sh b/test/units/TEST-26-SYSTEMCTL.sh
index ae7a5d6eb66..1471f3fd9e4 100755
--- a/test/units/TEST-26-SYSTEMCTL.sh
+++ b/test/units/TEST-26-SYSTEMCTL.sh
@@ -343,6 +343,12 @@ systemctl cat "$UNIT_NAME"
 systemctl help "$UNIT_NAME"
 systemctl service-watchdogs
 systemctl service-watchdogs "$(systemctl service-watchdogs)"
+# Ensure that the enablement symlinks can still be removed after the user is gone, to avoid having leftovers
+systemctl enable "$UNIT_NAME"
+systemctl stop "$UNIT_NAME"
+rm -f "/usr/lib/systemd/system/$UNIT_NAME"
+systemctl daemon-reload
+systemctl disable "$UNIT_NAME"
 
 # show/set-environment
 # Make sure PATH is set