diff --git a/cabal-install/cabal-install.cabal b/cabal-install/cabal-install.cabal
index c0c4c7c0fe018ce194e785ae3ac93b76dd2e7e89..b43e676dcd7269ced81a1c588f35b5176d003869 100644
--- a/cabal-install/cabal-install.cabal
+++ b/cabal-install/cabal-install.cabal
@@ -66,6 +66,8 @@ Extra-Source-Files:
   tests/IntegrationTests/user-config/should_run/overwrites_with_f.sh
   tests/IntegrationTests/user-config/should_run/runs_without_error.out
   tests/IntegrationTests/user-config/should_run/runs_without_error.sh
+  tests/IntegrationTests/user-config/should_run/uses_CABAL_CONFIG.out
+  tests/IntegrationTests/user-config/should_run/uses_CABAL_CONFIG.sh
 
 source-repository head
   type:     git
diff --git a/cabal-install/tests/IntegrationTests.hs b/cabal-install/tests/IntegrationTests.hs
index fc168ddd20437dc05b2e9338c5a337a8a575d4c9..c8300f7d43fa3322dbe9cc7c6f9e6760567c8ca5 100644
--- a/cabal-install/tests/IntegrationTests.hs
+++ b/cabal-install/tests/IntegrationTests.hs
@@ -264,7 +264,9 @@ main = do
   -- Set up environment variables for test scripts
   setEnv "GHC_PKG" $ programPath ghcPkg
   setEnv "CABAL" $ programPath cabal
+  -- Define default arguments
   setEnv "CABAL_ARGS" $ "--config-file=config-file"
+  setEnv "CABAL_ARGS_NO_CONFIG_FILE" " "
   -- Discover all the test caregories
   categories <- discoverTestCategories baseDirectory
   -- Discover tests in each category
diff --git a/cabal-install/tests/IntegrationTests/user-config/common.sh b/cabal-install/tests/IntegrationTests/user-config/common.sh
index 7e4d714e1565d56ea2353d2efa33e127d8f0263f..28051beb0774c82ecb128fae0577aa9e9302d29b 100644
--- a/cabal-install/tests/IntegrationTests/user-config/common.sh
+++ b/cabal-install/tests/IntegrationTests/user-config/common.sh
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # Helper to run Cabal
 cabal() {
-    $CABAL $CABAL_ARGS "$@"
+    $CABAL $CABAL_ARGS_NO_CONFIG_FILE "$@"
 }
 
 die() {
diff --git a/cabal-install/tests/IntegrationTests/user-config/should_run/uses_CABAL_CONFIG.out b/cabal-install/tests/IntegrationTests/user-config/should_run/uses_CABAL_CONFIG.out
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..f617016c4d49208474d0083d463be81be2fb6b69
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cabal-install/tests/IntegrationTests/user-config/should_run/uses_CABAL_CONFIG.out
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Writing default configuration to ./my-config
diff --git a/cabal-install/tests/IntegrationTests/user-config/should_run/uses_CABAL_CONFIG.sh b/cabal-install/tests/IntegrationTests/user-config/should_run/uses_CABAL_CONFIG.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..dfbc823cfdd92f2fff119c763b7a3b83f7e45794
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cabal-install/tests/IntegrationTests/user-config/should_run/uses_CABAL_CONFIG.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+. ../common.sh
+
+export CABAL_CONFIG=./my-config
+cabal user-config init || die "Couldn't create config file"
+test -e ./my-config || die "Config file doesn't exist"