diff --git a/src/libostree/ostree-repo.c b/src/libostree/ostree-repo.c
index b7f123e8..e6ca3895 100644
--- a/src/libostree/ostree-repo.c
+++ b/src/libostree/ostree-repo.c
@@ -2262,7 +2262,18 @@ checkout_tree (OstreeRepo               *self,
         {
           const char *checksum = _ostree_repo_file_get_checksum ((OstreeRepoFile*)src_child);
 
-          if (priv->mode == OSTREE_REPO_MODE_ARCHIVE)
+          if (priv->mode == OSTREE_REPO_MODE_ARCHIVE && mode == OSTREE_REPO_CHECKOUT_MODE_USER)
+            {
+              g_clear_object (&object_path);
+              object_path = ostree_repo_get_object_path (self, checksum, OSTREE_OBJECT_TYPE_ARCHIVED_FILE_CONTENT);
+
+              if (link (ot_gfile_get_path_cached (object_path), ot_gfile_get_path_cached (dest_path)) < 0)
+                {
+                  ot_util_set_error_from_errno (error, errno);
+                  goto out;
+                }
+            }
+          else if (priv->mode == OSTREE_REPO_MODE_ARCHIVE)
             {
               ot_clear_gvariant (&archive_metadata);
               if (!ostree_repo_load_variant (self, OSTREE_OBJECT_TYPE_ARCHIVED_FILE_META, checksum, &archive_metadata, error))
diff --git a/tests/t0000-basic.sh b/tests/t0000-basic.sh
index 02a060ad..e73631b9 100755
--- a/tests/t0000-basic.sh
+++ b/tests/t0000-basic.sh
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
 
 set -e
 
-echo "1..17"
+echo "1..18"
 
 . libtest.sh
 
@@ -148,3 +148,6 @@ ostree --repo=repo2 checkout test2 test2-checkout-from-local-clone
 cd test2-checkout-from-local-clone
 assert_file_has_content yet/another/tree/green 'leaf'
 echo "ok local clone checkout"
+
+$OSTREE checkout -U test2 checkout-user-test2
+echo "ok user checkout"
diff --git a/tests/t0001-archive.sh b/tests/t0001-archive.sh
index dc7bfa11..30fbe80c 100755
--- a/tests/t0001-archive.sh
+++ b/tests/t0001-archive.sh
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ set -e
 
 . libtest.sh
 
-echo '1..5'
+echo '1..6'
 
 setup_test_repository "archive"
 echo "ok setup"
@@ -47,3 +47,6 @@ ostree --repo=repo2 checkout test2 test2-checkout-from-local-clone
 cd test2-checkout-from-local-clone
 assert_file_has_content baz/cow moo
 echo "ok local clone checkout"
+
+$OSTREE checkout -U test2 checkout-user-test2
+echo "ok user checkout"