diff --git a/src/libstore/profiles.cc b/src/libstore/profiles.cc
index b202351ce..944a90702 100644
--- a/src/libstore/profiles.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/profiles.cc
@@ -292,13 +292,6 @@ Path getDefaultProfile()
 {
     Path profileLink = getHome() + "/.nix-profile";
     try {
-        auto profile =
-            getuid() == 0
-            ? settings.nixStateDir + "/profiles/default"
-            : profilesDir() + "/profile";
-        if (!pathExists(profileLink)) {
-            replaceSymlink(profile, profileLink);
-        }
         return absPath(readLink(profileLink), dirOf(profileLink));
     } catch (Error &) {
         return profileLink;
diff --git a/src/nix-env/nix-env.cc b/src/nix-env/nix-env.cc
index 406e548c0..e9004efee 100644
--- a/src/nix-env/nix-env.cc
+++ b/src/nix-env/nix-env.cc
@@ -1396,19 +1396,6 @@ static int main_nix_env(int argc, char * * argv)
         globals.instSource.nixExprPath = getHome() + "/.nix-defexpr";
         globals.instSource.systemFilter = "*";
 
-        if (!pathExists(globals.instSource.nixExprPath)) {
-            try {
-                createDirs(globals.instSource.nixExprPath);
-                replaceSymlink(
-                    fmt("%s/profiles/per-user/%s/channels", settings.nixStateDir, getUserName()),
-                    globals.instSource.nixExprPath + "/channels");
-                if (getuid() != 0)
-                    replaceSymlink(
-                        fmt("%s/profiles/per-user/root/channels", settings.nixStateDir),
-                        globals.instSource.nixExprPath + "/channels_root");
-            } catch (Error &) { }
-        }
-
         globals.dryRun = false;
         globals.preserveInstalled = false;
         globals.removeAll = false;