diff --git a/softmmu/vl.c b/softmmu/vl.c
index ae139dae56..9f33e526df 100644
--- a/softmmu/vl.c
+++ b/softmmu/vl.c
@@ -2794,16 +2794,6 @@ void qemu_init(int argc, char **argv, char **envp)
     // reporting. This should be replaced eventually, but is "good enough" for
     // now.
     //
-    for (int i = 1; i < argc; i++) {
-        if (argv[i] && strcmp(argv[i], "-config_path") == 0) {
-            argv[i] = NULL;
-            if (i < argc - 1 && argv[i+1]) {
-                xemu_settings_set_path(argv[i+1]);
-                argv[i+1] = NULL;
-            }
-            break;
-        }
-    }
 
     int first_boot = xemu_settings_did_fail_to_load();
     int fake_argc = 32 + argc;
diff --git a/ui/xemu.c b/ui/xemu.c
index 51a5d4366d..401b8f2a92 100644
--- a/ui/xemu.c
+++ b/ui/xemu.c
@@ -1522,6 +1522,17 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
     gArgc = argc;
     gArgv = argv;
 
+    for (int i = 1; i < argc; i++) {
+        if (argv[i] && strcmp(argv[i], "-config_path") == 0) {
+            argv[i] = NULL;
+            if (i < argc - 1 && argv[i+1]) {
+                xemu_settings_set_path(argv[i+1]);
+                argv[i+1] = NULL;
+            }
+            break;
+        }
+    }
+
     xemu_settings_load();
     atexit(xemu_settings_save);