diff --git a/doc/2-getting-started.md b/doc/2-getting-started.md
index c0162dc0d..a7d908241 100644
--- a/doc/2-getting-started.md
+++ b/doc/2-getting-started.md
@@ -1022,6 +1022,10 @@ added.
 Using the `--config` option you can specify one or more configuration files.
 Config files are processed in the order they're specified on the command-line.
 
+When no configuration file is specified and the `--no-config` is not used
+Icinga 2 automatically falls back to using the configuration file
+`SysconfDir + "/icinga2/icinga2.conf"` (where SysconfDir is usually `/etc`).
+
 #### Config Validation
 
 The `--validate` option can be used to check if your configuration files
diff --git a/icinga-app/icinga.cpp b/icinga-app/icinga.cpp
index 7f54d1040..9a9bff17f 100644
--- a/icinga-app/icinga.cpp
+++ b/icinga-app/icinga.cpp
@@ -90,7 +90,8 @@ static bool LoadConfigFiles(const String& appType, const String& objectsFile = S
 		BOOST_FOREACH(const String& configPath, g_AppParams["config"].as<std::vector<std::string> >()) {
 			ConfigCompiler::CompileFile(configPath);
 		}
-	}
+	} else if (!g_AppParams.count("no-config"))
+		ConfigCompiler::CompileFile(Application::GetSysconfDir() + "/icinga2/icinga2.conf");
 
 	/* Load cluster config files - this should probably be in libremote but
 	* unfortunately moving it there is somewhat non-trivial. */
@@ -530,12 +531,6 @@ int Main(void)
 		}
 	}
 
-	if (g_AppParams.count("no-config") == 0 && g_AppParams.count("config") == 0) {
-		Log(LogCritical, "icinga-app", "You need to specify at least one config file (using the --config option).");
-
-		return EXIT_FAILURE;
-	}
-
 	if (!g_AppParams.count("validate") && !g_AppParams.count("reload-internal")) {
 		pid_t runningpid = Application::ReadPidFile(Application::GetPidPath());
 		if (runningpid > 0) {