diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/glibc/common.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/glibc/common.nix
index 50d8c6e268c2d..7e99a0c18d7d1 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/glibc/common.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/glibc/common.nix
@@ -28,7 +28,6 @@
 { name
 , withLinuxHeaders ? false
 , profilingLibraries ? false
-, installLocales ? false
 , withGd ? false
 , meta
 , ...
@@ -44,7 +43,7 @@ assert withLinuxHeaders -> linuxHeaders != null;
 assert withGd -> gd != null && libpng != null;
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation ({
-  inherit version installLocales;
+  inherit version;
   linuxHeaders = if withLinuxHeaders then linuxHeaders else null;
 
   inherit (stdenv) is64bit;
@@ -88,6 +87,11 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation ({
         less linux-*?/arch/x86/kernel/syscall_table_32.S
        */
       ./allow-kernel-2.6.32.patch
+      /* Provide utf-8 locales by default, so we can use it in stdenv without depending on our large locale-archive. */
+      (fetchurl {
+        url = "https://salsa.debian.org/glibc-team/glibc/raw/49767c9f7de4828220b691b29de0baf60d8a54ec/debian/patches/localedata/locale-C.diff";
+        sha256 = "0irj60hs2i91ilwg5w7sqrxb695c93xg0ik7yhhq9irprd7fidn4";
+      })
     ]
     ++ lib.optional stdenv.isx86_64 ./fix-x64-abi.patch
     ++ lib.optional stdenv.hostPlatform.isMusl ./fix-rpc-types-musl-conflicts.patch;
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/glibc/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/glibc/default.nix
index 27a1267f0cfe1..e46985d3fca8b 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/glibc/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/glibc/default.nix
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 { stdenv, callPackage
 , withLinuxHeaders ? true
-, installLocales ? true
 , profilingLibraries ? false
 , withGd ? false
 }:
@@ -8,7 +7,7 @@
 callPackage ./common.nix { inherit stdenv; } {
     name = "glibc" + stdenv.lib.optionalString withGd "-gd";
 
-    inherit withLinuxHeaders profilingLibraries installLocales withGd;
+    inherit withLinuxHeaders profilingLibraries withGd;
 
     # Note:
     # Things you write here override, and do not add to,
@@ -57,9 +56,8 @@ callPackage ./common.nix { inherit stdenv; } {
     '';
 
     postInstall = ''
-      if test -n "$installLocales"; then
-          make -j''${NIX_BUILD_CORES:-1} -l''${NIX_BUILD_CORES:-1} localedata/install-locales
-      fi
+      echo SUPPORTED-LOCALES=C.UTF-8/UTF-8 > ../glibc-2*/localedata/SUPPORTED
+      make -j''${NIX_BUILD_CORES:-1} -l''${NIX_BUILD_CORES:-1} localedata/install-locales
 
       test -f $out/etc/ld.so.cache && rm $out/etc/ld.so.cache
 
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/glibc/locales.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/glibc/locales.nix
index 7090c5ceceeca..2b20c17d4500b 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/glibc/locales.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/glibc/locales.nix
@@ -13,8 +13,6 @@
 callPackage ./common.nix { inherit stdenv; } {
   name = "glibc-locales";
 
-  installLocales = true;
-
   builder = ./locales-builder.sh;
 
   outputs = [ "out" ];
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index 3cc3a4626c918..7c92c3b11553c 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -9955,9 +9955,7 @@ in
     inherit (darwin.apple_sdk.frameworks) Cocoa Kernel;
   };
 
-  glibc = callPackage ../development/libraries/glibc {
-    installLocales = config.glibc.locales or false;
-  };
+  glibc = callPackage ../development/libraries/glibc { };
 
   # Provided by libc on Operating Systems that use the Extensible Linker Format.
   elf-header =
@@ -9968,13 +9966,11 @@ in
   elf-header-real = callPackage ../development/libraries/elf-header { };
 
   glibc_memusage = callPackage ../development/libraries/glibc {
-    installLocales = false;
     withGd = true;
   };
 
   # Being redundant to avoid cycles on boot. TODO: find a better way
   glibcCross = callPackage ../development/libraries/glibc {
-    installLocales = config.glibc.locales or false;
     stdenv = crossLibcStdenv;
   };