diff --git a/modules/misc/xdg-user-dirs.nix b/modules/misc/xdg-user-dirs.nix
index b50503945..181d6c10b 100644
--- a/modules/misc/xdg-user-dirs.nix
+++ b/modules/misc/xdg-user-dirs.nix
@@ -136,10 +136,21 @@ in
 
     setSessionVariables = mkOption {
       type = with types; bool;
-      default = lib.versionOlder config.home.stateVersion "26.05";
-      defaultText = literalExpression ''
-        lib.versionOlder config.home.stateVersion "26.05"
-      '';
+      inherit
+        (lib.hm.deprecations.mkStateVersionOptionDefault {
+          inherit (config.home) stateVersion;
+          since = "26.05";
+          optionPath = [
+            "xdg"
+            "userDirs"
+            "setSessionVariables"
+          ];
+          legacy.value = true;
+          current.value = false;
+        })
+        default
+        defaultText
+        ;
       description = ''
         Whether to set the XDG user dir environment variables, like
         `XDG_DESKTOP_DIR`.
diff --git a/tests/modules/misc/xdg/default.nix b/tests/modules/misc/xdg/default.nix
index 53ab57cd7..59606edc3 100644
--- a/tests/modules/misc/xdg/default.nix
+++ b/tests/modules/misc/xdg/default.nix
@@ -7,4 +7,6 @@
   xdg-user-dirs-mixed = ./user-dirs-mixed.nix;
   xdg-user-dirs-null = ./user-dirs-null.nix;
   xdg-user-dirs-short = ./user-dirs-short.nix;
+  xdg-user-dirs-session-vars-legacy = ./user-dirs-session-vars-legacy.nix;
+  xdg-user-dirs-session-vars-current = ./user-dirs-session-vars-current.nix;
 }
diff --git a/tests/modules/misc/xdg/user-dirs-session-vars-current.nix b/tests/modules/misc/xdg/user-dirs-session-vars-current.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0373aeec9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/modules/misc/xdg/user-dirs-session-vars-current.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+{
+  home.stateVersion = "26.05";
+
+  xdg.userDirs.enable = true;
+
+  nmt.script = ''
+    assertFileNotRegex home-path/etc/profile.d/hm-session-vars.sh \
+      '^export XDG_DESKTOP_DIR='
+  '';
+}
diff --git a/tests/modules/misc/xdg/user-dirs-session-vars-legacy.nix b/tests/modules/misc/xdg/user-dirs-session-vars-legacy.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4f3957b87
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/modules/misc/xdg/user-dirs-session-vars-legacy.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+{
+  home.stateVersion = "25.11";
+
+  xdg.userDirs.enable = true;
+
+  nmt.script = ''
+    assertFileContains home-path/etc/profile.d/hm-session-vars.sh \
+      'export XDG_DESKTOP_DIR="/home/hm-user/Desktop"'
+  '';
+}