diff --git a/boards/arc/nsim/nsim_em_defconfig b/boards/arc/nsim/nsim_em_defconfig
index 94f5d74d675..b4ccdf8c9ed 100644
--- a/boards/arc/nsim/nsim_em_defconfig
+++ b/boards/arc/nsim/nsim_em_defconfig
@@ -16,3 +16,4 @@ CONFIG_CONSOLE=y
 CONFIG_UART_CONSOLE=y
 CONFIG_SERIAL=y
 CONFIG_ARC_EXCEPTION_DEBUG=y
+CONFIG_ARC_USE_UNALIGNED_MEM_ACCESS=y
diff --git a/boards/arc/nsim/support/nsim_em.props b/boards/arc/nsim/support/nsim_em.props
index 10a3194f8a3..a1dfdbca0e0 100644
--- a/boards/arc/nsim/support/nsim_em.props
+++ b/boards/arc/nsim/support/nsim_em.props
@@ -67,3 +67,4 @@
 	nsim_isa_dmac_fifo_depth=2
 	nsim_isa_dmac_int_config=single_internal
 	nsim_mem-dev=uart0,base=0xf0000000,irq=24
+	nsim_isa_unaligned_option=1