diff --git a/internal/home/config.go b/internal/home/config.go
index b2161373ae6..ac42afde92b 100644
--- a/internal/home/config.go
+++ b/internal/home/config.go
@@ -439,7 +439,7 @@ func readLogSettings() (ls *logSettings) {
 
 	yamlFile, err := readConfigFile()
 	if err != nil {
-		return &logSettings{}
+		return nil
 	}
 
 	err = yaml.Unmarshal(yamlFile, conf)
diff --git a/internal/home/home.go b/internal/home/home.go
index a4f5c9e536d..1d28646444e 100644
--- a/internal/home/home.go
+++ b/internal/home/home.go
@@ -794,22 +794,19 @@ func configureLogger(opts options) (err error) {
 
 // getLogSettings returns a log settings object properly initialized from opts.
 func getLogSettings(opts options) (ls *logSettings) {
-	ls = readLogSettings()
 	configLogSettings := config.Log
 
+	ls = readLogSettings()
+	if ls == nil {
+		// Use default log settings.
+		ls = &configLogSettings
+	}
+
 	// Command-line arguments can override config settings.
-	if opts.verbose || configLogSettings.Verbose {
+	if opts.verbose {
 		ls.Verbose = true
 	}
-
-	ls.File = stringutil.Coalesce(opts.logFile, configLogSettings.File, ls.File)
-
-	// Handle default log settings overrides.
-	ls.Compress = configLogSettings.Compress
-	ls.LocalTime = configLogSettings.LocalTime
-	ls.MaxBackups = configLogSettings.MaxBackups
-	ls.MaxSize = configLogSettings.MaxSize
-	ls.MaxAge = configLogSettings.MaxAge
+	ls.File = stringutil.Coalesce(opts.logFile, ls.File)
 
 	if opts.runningAsService && ls.File == "" && runtime.GOOS == "windows" {
 		// When running as a Windows service, use eventlog by default if