diff --git a/debian/zfs-zed.postinst b/debian/zfs-zed.postinst
index 9332543..a615eec 100644
--- a/debian/zfs-zed.postinst
+++ b/debian/zfs-zed.postinst
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ etcd="/etc/zfs/zed.d"
 while read -r file ; do
     etcfile="${etcd}/${file}"
     [ -e "${etcfile}" ] && continue
-    ln -s "${zedd}/${file}" "${etcfile}"
+    ln -sfT "${zedd}/${file}" "${etcfile}"
 done < "${zedd}/DEFAULT-ENABLED"
 
 # remove the overrides created in prerm
diff --git a/debian/zfs-zed.prerm b/debian/zfs-zed.prerm
index fca0f4a..b8340df 100644
--- a/debian/zfs-zed.prerm
+++ b/debian/zfs-zed.prerm
@@ -7,8 +7,8 @@ etcd="/etc/zfs/zed.d"
 if [ "$1" != "failed-upgrade" ] && [ -d "${etcd}" ] && [ -d "${zedd}" ] ; then
     while read -r file ; do
         etcfile="${etcd}/${file}"
-        [ -e "${etcfile}" ] && continue
-        ln -s /dev/null "${etcfile}"
+        ( [ -L "${etcfile}" ] || [ -e "${etcfile}" ] ) && continue
+        ln -sT /dev/null "${etcfile}"
     done < "${zedd}/DEFAULT-ENABLED"
 fi