diff --git a/meta/recipes-core/systemd/systemd_257.1.bb b/meta/recipes-core/systemd/systemd_257.1.bb
index 9f9c83a7c3..8330157fb6 100644
--- a/meta/recipes-core/systemd/systemd_257.1.bb
+++ b/meta/recipes-core/systemd/systemd_257.1.bb
@@ -265,6 +265,11 @@ EXTRA_OEMESON += "-Dkexec-path=${sbindir}/kexec \
 # The 60 seconds is watchdog's default vaule.
 WATCHDOG_TIMEOUT ??= "60"
 
+# To make use of the hardware watchdog it is sufficient to set WATCHDOG_RUNTIME_SEC
+# (RuntimeWatchdogSec= option in /etc/systemd/system.conf) to a value like 20s
+# and the watchdog is enabled. (defaults is no hardware watchdog use)
+WATCHDOG_RUNTIME_SEC ??= ""
+
 do_install() {
 	meson_do_install
 
@@ -382,6 +387,11 @@ do_install() {
 			${D}/${sysconfdir}/systemd/system.conf
 	fi
 
+	if [ -n "${WATCHDOG_RUNTIME_SEC}" ]; then
+		sed -i -e 's/#RuntimeWatchdogSec=off/RuntimeWatchdogSec=${WATCHDOG_RUNTIME_SEC}/' \
+			${D}/${sysconfdir}/systemd/system.conf
+	fi
+
 	if ${@bb.utils.contains('PACKAGECONFIG', 'pni-names', 'true', 'false', d)}; then
 		if ! grep -q '^NamePolicy=.*mac' ${D}${nonarch_libdir}/systemd/network/99-default.link; then
 			sed -i '/^NamePolicy=/s/$/ mac/' ${D}${nonarch_libdir}/systemd/network/99-default.link