diff --git a/src/login/logind-session.c b/src/login/logind-session.c
index 979e506897..ed19129300 100644
--- a/src/login/logind-session.c
+++ b/src/login/logind-session.c
@@ -743,7 +743,7 @@ static int session_start_scope(Session *s, sd_bus_message *properties, sd_bus_er
                  * of STRV_IGNORE with strv_new() to skip these order constraints when needed. */
                 after = strv_new("systemd-logind.service",
                                  s->user->runtime_dir_service,
-                                 !uid_is_system(s->user->user_record->uid) ? "systemd-user-sessions.service" : STRV_IGNORE,
+                                 SESSION_CLASS_IS_EARLY(s->class) ? STRV_IGNORE : "systemd-user-sessions.service",
                                  s->user->service);
                 if (!after)
                         return log_oom();
@@ -1637,6 +1637,7 @@ DEFINE_STRING_TABLE_LOOKUP(session_type, SessionType);
 
 static const char* const session_class_table[_SESSION_CLASS_MAX] = {
         [SESSION_USER]        = "user",
+        [SESSION_USER_EARLY]  = "user-early",
         [SESSION_GREETER]     = "greeter",
         [SESSION_LOCK_SCREEN] = "lock-screen",
         [SESSION_BACKGROUND]  = "background",
diff --git a/src/login/logind-session.h b/src/login/logind-session.h
index a947c8541a..f018cb30f9 100644
--- a/src/login/logind-session.h
+++ b/src/login/logind-session.h
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ typedef enum SessionState {
 
 typedef enum SessionClass {
         SESSION_USER,               /* A regular user session */
+        SESSION_USER_EARLY,         /* A user session, that is not ordered after systemd-user-sessions.service (i.e. for root) */
         SESSION_GREETER,            /* A login greeter pseudo-session */
         SESSION_LOCK_SCREEN,        /* A lock screen */
         SESSION_BACKGROUND,         /* Things like cron jobs, which are non-interactive */
@@ -28,6 +29,10 @@ typedef enum SessionClass {
         _SESSION_CLASS_INVALID = -EINVAL,
 } SessionClass;
 
+/* Whether we shall allow sessions of this class to run before 'systemd-user-sessions.service'. For now,
+ * there's only one class we allow this for. It's generally set for root sessions, but noone else. */
+#define SESSION_CLASS_IS_EARLY(class) ((class) == SESSION_USER_EARLY)
+
 typedef enum SessionType {
         SESSION_UNSPECIFIED,
         SESSION_TTY,
diff --git a/src/login/logind-user.c b/src/login/logind-user.c
index 4e6b20eb11..2675fa7e93 100644
--- a/src/login/logind-user.c
+++ b/src/login/logind-user.c
@@ -782,6 +782,9 @@ static int elect_display_compare(Session *s1, Session *s2) {
         if ((s1->class != SESSION_USER) != (s2->class != SESSION_USER))
                 return (s1->class != SESSION_USER) - (s2->class != SESSION_USER);
 
+        if ((s1->class != SESSION_USER_EARLY) != (s2->class != SESSION_USER_EARLY))
+                return (s1->class != SESSION_USER_EARLY) - (s2->class != SESSION_USER_EARLY);
+
         if ((s1->type == _SESSION_TYPE_INVALID) != (s2->type == _SESSION_TYPE_INVALID))
                 return (s1->type == _SESSION_TYPE_INVALID) - (s2->type == _SESSION_TYPE_INVALID);
 
diff --git a/src/login/pam_systemd.c b/src/login/pam_systemd.c
index 20ec5530d9..297689203b 100644
--- a/src/login/pam_systemd.c
+++ b/src/login/pam_systemd.c
@@ -1011,7 +1011,9 @@ _public_ PAM_EXTERN int pam_sm_open_session(
                            !isempty(tty) ? "tty" : "unspecified";
 
         if (isempty(class))
-                class = streq(type, "unspecified") ? "background" : "user";
+                class = streq(type, "unspecified") ? "background" :
+                        ((IN_SET(user_record_disposition(ur), USER_INTRINSIC, USER_SYSTEM, USER_DYNAMIC) &&
+                         streq(type, "tty")) ? "user-early" : "user");
 
         remote = !isempty(remote_host) && !is_localhost(remote_host);