diff --git a/src/basic/terminal-util.h b/src/basic/terminal-util.h
index 688d6808a6..8438a3fb21 100644
--- a/src/basic/terminal-util.h
+++ b/src/basic/terminal-util.h
@@ -143,6 +143,9 @@ assert_cc((TTY_MODE & 0711) == 0600);
 
 void termios_disable_echo(struct termios *termios);
 
+/* The $TERM value we use for terminals other than the Linux console */
+#define FALLBACK_TERM "vt220"
+
 int get_default_background_color(double *ret_red, double *ret_green, double *ret_blue);
 int terminal_get_size_by_dsr(int input_fd, int output_fd, unsigned *ret_rows, unsigned *ret_columns);
 int terminal_fix_size(int input_fd, int output_fd);
diff --git a/src/core/exec-invoke.c b/src/core/exec-invoke.c
index b27358d8dc..f4e090297c 100644
--- a/src/core/exec-invoke.c
+++ b/src/core/exec-invoke.c
@@ -2038,7 +2038,7 @@ static int build_environment(
         }
 
         if (exec_context_needs_term(c)) {
-                _cleanup_free_ char *cmdline = NULL;
+                _cleanup_free_ char *cmdline = NULL, *dcs_term = NULL;
                 const char *tty_path, *term = NULL;
 
                 tty_path = exec_context_tty_path(c);
@@ -2063,8 +2063,16 @@ static int build_environment(
                                 term = cmdline;
                 }
 
+                if (!term && tty_path) {
+                        /* This handles real virtual terminals (returning "linux") and
+                         * any terminals which support the DCS +q query sequence. */
+                        r = query_term_for_tty(tty_path, &dcs_term);
+                        if (r >= 0)
+                                term = dcs_term;
+                }
+
                 if (!term) {
-                        /* If no precise $TERM is known and we pick a fallback default, then let's also set
+                        /* If $TERM is not known and we pick a fallback default, then let's also set
                          * $COLORTERM=truecolor. That's because our fallback default is vt220, which is
                          * generally a safe bet (as it supports PageUp/PageDown unlike vt100, and is quite
                          * universally available in terminfo/termcap), except for the fact that real DEC
@@ -2083,7 +2091,7 @@ static int build_environment(
 
                         our_env[n_env++] = x;
 
-                        term = default_term_for_tty(tty_path);
+                        term = FALLBACK_TERM;
                 }
 
                 x = strjoin("TERM=", term);
diff --git a/src/core/main.c b/src/core/main.c
index 2005d733c6..b1f7cc941b 100644
--- a/src/core/main.c
+++ b/src/core/main.c
@@ -1594,8 +1594,10 @@ static int fixup_environment(void) {
                         return r;
         }
 
-        const char *t = term ?: default_term_for_tty("/dev/console");
-        if (setenv("TERM", t, /* overwrite= */ true) < 0)
+        if (!term)
+                (void) query_term_for_tty("/dev/console", &term);
+
+        if (setenv("TERM", term ?: FALLBACK_TERM, /* overwrite= */ true) < 0)
                 return -errno;
 
         /* The kernels sets HOME=/ for init. Let's undo this. */