diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/3164-zypper-support-transactional-updates.yaml b/changelogs/fragments/3164-zypper-support-transactional-updates.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d12ff9a6bf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/3164-zypper-support-transactional-updates.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+minor_changes:
+  - zypper - prefix zypper commands with ``/sbin/transactional-update --continue --drop-if-no-change --quiet run`` if transactional updates are detected (https://github.com/ansible-collections/community.general/issues/3159).
diff --git a/plugins/modules/packaging/os/zypper.py b/plugins/modules/packaging/os/zypper.py
index 367bd8d9a0..2295b5a566 100644
--- a/plugins/modules/packaging/os/zypper.py
+++ b/plugins/modules/packaging/os/zypper.py
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ author:
 short_description: Manage packages on SUSE and openSUSE
 description:
     - Manage packages on SUSE and openSUSE using the zypper and rpm tools.
+    - Also supports transactional updates, by running zypper inside C(/sbin/transactional-update --continue --drop-if-no-change --quiet run).
 options:
     name:
         description:
@@ -213,6 +214,7 @@ EXAMPLES = '''
     ZYPP_LOCK_TIMEOUT: 20
 '''
 
+import os.path
 import xml
 import re
 from xml.dom.minidom import parseString as parseXML
@@ -337,6 +339,8 @@ def get_cmd(m, subcommand):
     is_install = subcommand in ['install', 'update', 'patch', 'dist-upgrade']
     is_refresh = subcommand == 'refresh'
     cmd = [m.get_bin_path('zypper', required=True), '--quiet', '--non-interactive', '--xmlout']
+    if transactional_updates():
+        cmd = [m.get_bin_path('transactional-update', required=True), '--continue', '--drop-if-no-change', '--quiet', 'run'] + cmd
     if m.params['extra_args_precommand']:
         args_list = m.params['extra_args_precommand'].split()
         cmd.extend(args_list)
@@ -491,6 +495,10 @@ def repo_refresh(m):
 
     return retvals
 
+
+def transactional_updates():
+    return os.path.exists('/var/lib/misc/transactional-update.state')
+
 # ===========================================
 # Main control flow