diff --git a/finit.c b/finit.c
index f6af17de..0efec2d1 100644
--- a/finit.c
+++ b/finit.c
@@ -184,19 +184,17 @@ int main(int argc, char* argv[])
 	 */
 	run_interactive(SETUP_DEVFS, "Populating device tree");
 
+	/*
+	 * Load plugins first, finit.conf may contain references to
+	 * features implemented by plugins.
+	 */
+	print_result(plugin_load_all(&ctx, PLUGIN_PATH));
+
 	/*
 	 * Parse configuration file
 	 */
 	parse_finit_conf(FINIT_CONF);
 
-	/*
-	 * Load plugins.  Must run after finit.conf has registered
-	 * all services, or service plugins won't have anything to
-	 * hook on to.
-	 */
-	print_desc("Loading plugins", NULL);
-	print_result(plugin_load_all(&ctx, PLUGIN_PATH));
-
 	/*
 	 * Mount filesystems
 	 */
diff --git a/plugin.c b/plugin.c
index 8bd3215d..484a0768 100644
--- a/plugin.c
+++ b/plugin.c
@@ -43,13 +43,12 @@ static void check_plugin_depends(plugin_t *plugin);
 
 int plugin_register(plugin_t *plugin)
 {
-	int i, inuse = 0;
-
 	if (!plugin) {
 		errno = EINVAL;
 		return 1;
 	}
 
+	/* Setup default name if none is provided */
 	if (!plugin->name) {
 		Dl_info info;
 
@@ -65,37 +64,15 @@ int plugin_register(plugin_t *plugin)
 		return 0;
 	}
 
+	/* Resolve plugin dependencies */
 	check_plugin_depends(plugin);
 
-	if (is_io_plugin(plugin))
-		inuse++;
-
-	if (plugin->svc.cb) {
-		svc_t *svc = svc_find(plugin->name);
-
-		if (svc) {
-			inuse++;
-			svc->cb           = plugin->svc.cb;
-			svc->dynamic      = plugin->svc.dynamic;
-			svc->dynamic_stop = plugin->svc.dynamic_stop;
-		}
-	}
-
-	for (i = 0; i < HOOK_MAX_NUM; i++) {
-		if (plugin->hook[i].cb)
-			inuse++;
-	}
-
-	if (!inuse) {
-		_d("No service \"%s\" loaded, and no I/O or finit hooks, skipping plugin.", basename(plugin->name));
-		return 1;
-	}
-
 	TAILQ_INSERT_TAIL(&plugins, plugin, link);
 
 	return 0;
 }
 
+/* Not called, at the moment plugins cannot be unloaded. */
 int plugin_unregister(plugin_t *plugin)
 {
 	TAILQ_REMOVE(&plugins, plugin, link);
@@ -282,6 +259,7 @@ int plugin_load_all(uev_ctx_t *ctx, char *path)
 	DIR *dp = opendir(path);
 	struct dirent *entry;
 
+	print_desc("Loading plugins", NULL);
 	if (!dp) {
 		_e("Failed, cannot open plugin directory %s: %s", path, strerror(errno));
 		return 1;
diff --git a/svc.c b/svc.c
index ca1d4b6e..69e97979 100644
--- a/svc.c
+++ b/svc.c
@@ -378,6 +378,13 @@ int svc_register(int type, char *line, char *username)
 		while ((cmd = strtok(NULL, " ")))
 			strlcpy(svc->args[i++], cmd, sizeof(svc->args[0]));
 		svc->args[i][0] = 0;
+
+		plugin = plugin_find(svc->cmd);
+		if (plugin && plugin->svc.cb) {
+			svc->cb           = plugin->svc.cb;
+			svc->dynamic      = plugin->svc.dynamic;
+			svc->dynamic_stop = plugin->svc.dynamic_stop;
+		}
 	}
 
 	svc->runlevels = parse_runlevels(runlevels);