diff --git a/src/common/read_config.c b/src/common/read_config.c
index 33de96e5028d75760807f6de4eaa0094aaaec0b3..f37bb3e461a89fc28d692f1489e0b31b2c869875 100644
--- a/src/common/read_config.c
+++ b/src/common/read_config.c
@@ -1713,6 +1713,7 @@ slurm_conf_init(const char *file_name)
 		return SLURM_ERROR;
 	}
 
+	init_slurm_conf(conf_ptr);
 	_init_slurm_conf(file_name);
 	conf_initialized = true;