diff --git a/tests/nixos/tarball-flakes.nix b/tests/nixos/tarball-flakes.nix
index e30d15739e6..2e7f98b5e46 100644
--- a/tests/nixos/tarball-flakes.nix
+++ b/tests/nixos/tarball-flakes.nix
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ let
 
   root = pkgs.runCommand "nixpkgs-flake" {}
     ''
-      mkdir -p $out/stable
+      mkdir -p $out/{stable,tags}
 
       set -x
       dir=nixpkgs-${nixpkgs.shortRev}
@@ -14,9 +14,13 @@ let
       find $dir -print0 | xargs -0 touch -h -t ${builtins.substring 0 12 nixpkgs.lastModifiedDate}.${builtins.substring 12 2 nixpkgs.lastModifiedDate} --
       tar cfz $out/stable/${nixpkgs.rev}.tar.gz $dir --hard-dereference
 
-      echo 'Redirect "/latest.tar.gz" "/stable/${nixpkgs.rev}.tar.gz"' > $out/.htaccess
-
-      echo 'Header set Link "<http://localhost/stable/${nixpkgs.rev}.tar.gz?rev=${nixpkgs.rev}&revCount=1234>; rel=\"immutable\""' > $out/stable/.htaccess
+      # Set the "Link" header on the redirect but not the final response to
+      # simulate an S3-like serving environment where the final host cannot set
+      # arbitrary headers.
+      cat >$out/tags/.htaccess <<EOF
+      Redirect "/tags/latest.tar.gz" "/stable/${nixpkgs.rev}.tar.gz"
+      Header always set Link "<http://localhost/stable/${nixpkgs.rev}.tar.gz?rev=${nixpkgs.rev}&revCount=1234>; rel=\"immutable\""
+      EOF
     '';
 in
 
@@ -59,7 +63,7 @@ in
 
     machine.wait_for_unit("httpd.service")
 
-    out = machine.succeed("nix flake metadata --json http://localhost/latest.tar.gz")
+    out = machine.succeed("nix flake metadata --json http://localhost/tags/latest.tar.gz")
     print(out)
     info = json.loads(out)
 
@@ -71,14 +75,15 @@ in
     assert info["revCount"] == 1234
 
     # Check that fetching with rev/revCount/narHash succeeds.
-    machine.succeed("nix flake metadata --json http://localhost/latest.tar.gz?rev=" + info["revision"])
-    machine.succeed("nix flake metadata --json http://localhost/latest.tar.gz?revCount=" + str(info["revCount"]))
-    machine.succeed("nix flake metadata --json http://localhost/latest.tar.gz?narHash=" + info["locked"]["narHash"])
+
+    machine.succeed("nix flake metadata --json http://localhost/tags/latest.tar.gz?rev=" + info["revision"])
+    machine.succeed("nix flake metadata --json http://localhost/tags/latest.tar.gz?revCount=" + str(info["revCount"]))
+    machine.succeed("nix flake metadata --json http://localhost/tags/latest.tar.gz?narHash=" + info["locked"]["narHash"])
 
     # Check that fetching fails if we provide incorrect attributes.
-    machine.fail("nix flake metadata --json http://localhost/latest.tar.gz?rev=493300eb13ae6fb387fbd47bf54a85915acc31c0")
-    machine.fail("nix flake metadata --json http://localhost/latest.tar.gz?revCount=789")
-    machine.fail("nix flake metadata --json http://localhost/latest.tar.gz?narHash=sha256-tbudgBSg+bHWHiHnlteNzN8TUvI80ygS9IULh4rklEw=")
+    machine.fail("nix flake metadata --json http://localhost/tags/latest.tar.gz?rev=493300eb13ae6fb387fbd47bf54a85915acc31c0")
+    machine.fail("nix flake metadata --json http://localhost/tags/latest.tar.gz?revCount=789")
+    machine.fail("nix flake metadata --json http://localhost/tags/latest.tar.gz?narHash=sha256-tbudgBSg+bHWHiHnlteNzN8TUvI80ygS9IULh4rklEw=")
   '';
 
 }