diff --git a/meta/recipes-core/systemd/systemd/systemd-pager.sh b/meta/recipes-core/systemd/systemd/systemd-pager.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..86e3e0ab78
--- /dev/null
+++ b/meta/recipes-core/systemd/systemd/systemd-pager.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+# Systemd expect a color capable pager, however the less provided
+# by busybox is not. This make many interaction with systemd pretty
+# annoying. As a workaround we disable the systemd pager if less
+# is not the GNU version.
+if ! less -V > /dev/null 2>&1 ; then
+	export SYSTEMD_PAGER=
+fi
diff --git a/meta/recipes-core/systemd/systemd_244.5.bb b/meta/recipes-core/systemd/systemd_244.5.bb
index 2bca1fbc82..98a580e2ea 100644
--- a/meta/recipes-core/systemd/systemd_244.5.bb
+++ b/meta/recipes-core/systemd/systemd_244.5.bb
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ SRC_URI += "file://touchscreen.rules \
            file://00-create-volatile.conf \
            file://init \
            file://99-default.preset \
+           file://systemd-pager.sh \
            file://0001-binfmt-Don-t-install-dependency-links-at-install-tim.patch \
            file://0003-implment-systemd-sysv-install-for-OE.patch \
            file://CVE-2021-33910.patch \
@@ -317,6 +318,9 @@ do_install() {
 	# install default policy for presets
 	# https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd/Preset/#howto
 	install -Dm 0644 ${WORKDIR}/99-default.preset ${D}${systemd_unitdir}/system-preset/99-default.preset
+
+	# add a profile fragment to disable systemd pager with busybox less
+	install -Dm 0644 ${WORKDIR}/systemd-pager.sh ${D}${sysconfdir}/profile.d/systemd-pager.sh
 }
 
 python populate_packages_prepend (){
@@ -539,6 +543,7 @@ FILES_${PN} = " ${base_bindir}/* \
                 ${sysconfdir}/dbus-1/ \
                 ${sysconfdir}/modules-load.d/ \
                 ${sysconfdir}/pam.d/ \
+                ${sysconfdir}/profile.d/ \
                 ${sysconfdir}/sysctl.d/ \
                 ${sysconfdir}/systemd/ \
                 ${sysconfdir}/tmpfiles.d/ \