diff --git a/src/libutil/util.cc b/src/libutil/util.cc
index 6bc64ae75..04c98dc80 100644
--- a/src/libutil/util.cc
+++ b/src/libutil/util.cc
@@ -468,7 +468,7 @@ static Lazy<Path> getHome2([]() {
         std::vector<char> buf(16384);
         struct passwd pwbuf;
         struct passwd * pw;
-        if (getpwuid_r(getuid(), &pwbuf, buf.data(), buf.size(), &pw) != 0
+        if (getpwuid_r(geteuid(), &pwbuf, buf.data(), buf.size(), &pw) != 0
             || !pw || !pw->pw_dir || !pw->pw_dir[0])
             throw Error("cannot determine user's home directory");
         homeDir = pw->pw_dir;
diff --git a/src/nix-channel/nix-channel.cc b/src/nix-channel/nix-channel.cc
index 55ebda438..2083d3df5 100755
--- a/src/nix-channel/nix-channel.cc
+++ b/src/nix-channel/nix-channel.cc
@@ -169,7 +169,7 @@ int main(int argc, char ** argv)
 
         // Figure out the name of the channels profile.
         ;
-        auto pw = getpwuid(getuid());
+        auto pw = getpwuid(geteuid());
         std::string name = pw ? pw->pw_name : getEnv("USER", "");
         if (name.empty())
             throw Error("cannot figure out user name");