diff --git a/ffserver.c b/ffserver.c
index 30cc481849be244f29aef2e9fbd2909129f0707e..cfa730a81ae0810bac4bcd5a2b180dea3a1bf16c 100644
--- a/ffserver.c
+++ b/ffserver.c
@@ -4673,6 +4673,8 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 {
     struct sigaction sigact = { { 0 } };
 
+    config_filename = av_strdup("/etc/ffserver.conf");
+
     parse_loglevel(argc, argv, options);
     av_register_all();
     avformat_network_init();
@@ -4683,9 +4685,6 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 
     parse_options(NULL, argc, argv, options, NULL);
 
-    if (!config_filename)
-        config_filename = av_strdup("/etc/ffserver.conf");
-
     unsetenv("http_proxy");             /* Kill the http_proxy */
 
     av_lfg_init(&random_state, av_get_random_seed());