diff --git a/src/shared/install.c b/src/shared/install.c
index 03773bd02f..ccb999998c 100644
--- a/src/shared/install.c
+++ b/src/shared/install.c
@@ -1896,10 +1896,10 @@ static int install_context_apply(
                 if (q < 0)
                         return q;
 
-                r = install_info_traverse(scope, c, paths, i, flags, NULL);
-                if (r < 0) {
+                q = install_info_traverse(scope, c, paths, i, flags, NULL);
+                if (q < 0) {
                         unit_file_changes_add(changes, n_changes, r, i->name, NULL);
-                        return r;
+                        return q;
                 }
 
                 /* We can attempt to process a masked unit when a different unit
diff --git a/src/test/test-install-root.c b/src/test/test-install-root.c
index c0956fa4bb..73ea68f372 100644
--- a/src/test/test-install-root.c
+++ b/src/test/test-install-root.c
@@ -862,7 +862,7 @@ static void test_with_dropin(const char *root) {
         unit_file_changes_free(changes, n_changes);
         changes = NULL; n_changes = 0;
 
-        assert_se(unit_file_enable(UNIT_FILE_SYSTEM, 0, root, STRV_MAKE("with-dropin-4a.service"), &changes, &n_changes) == 1);
+        assert_se(unit_file_enable(UNIT_FILE_SYSTEM, 0, root, STRV_MAKE("with-dropin-4a.service"), &changes, &n_changes) == 2);
         assert_se(unit_file_get_state(UNIT_FILE_SYSTEM, root, "with-dropin-3.service", &state) >= 0 && state == UNIT_FILE_ENABLED);
         assert_se(n_changes == 2);
         assert_se(changes[0].type == UNIT_FILE_SYMLINK);