diff --git a/btrbk b/btrbk
index da2fad5..b008115 100755
--- a/btrbk
+++ b/btrbk
@@ -3964,23 +3964,24 @@ sub init_config(@)
 }
 
 
-sub parse_config(@)
-{
+sub _config_file(@) {
   my @config_files = @_;
-  my $file = undef;
-  foreach(@config_files) {
-    TRACE "config: checking for file: $_";
-    if(-r "$_") {
-      $file = $_;
-      last;
-    }
+  foreach my $file (@config_files) {
+    TRACE "config: checking for file: $file";
+    return $file if(-r "$file");
   }
+  return undef;
+}
+
+sub parse_config($)
+{
+  my $file = shift;
   return undef unless($file);
 
   my $root = init_config(SRC_FILE => $file);
   my $cur = $root;
 
-  INFO "Using configuration: $file";
+  TRACE "config: open configuration file: $file";
   open(FILE, '<', $file) or die $!;
   while (<FILE>) {
     chomp;
@@ -4992,6 +4993,7 @@ MAIN:
   }
   elsif ($command eq "archive") {
     $action_archive = 1;
+    $fallback_default_config = 1;
     $args_expected_min = $args_expected_max = 2;
     @subvol_args = @ARGV;
   }
@@ -5144,17 +5146,21 @@ MAIN:
   #
   # parse config file
   #
-  my $config = parse_config(@config_src);
-  unless($config) {
-    if($fallback_default_config) {
-      INFO "Configuration file not found, falling back to defaults";
-      $config = init_config();
-    }
-    else {
-      ERROR "Configuration file not found: " . join(', ', @config_src);
-      exit 2;
-    }
+  my $config;
+  if(my $config_file = _config_file(@config_src)) {
+    INFO "Using configuration: $config_file";
+    $config = parse_config($config_file);
+    exit 2 unless($config);
   }
+  elsif($fallback_default_config) {
+    INFO "Configuration file not found, falling back to defaults";
+    $config = init_config();
+  }
+  else {
+    ERROR "Configuration file not found: " . join(', ', @config_src);
+    exit 2;
+  }
+
   unless(ref($config->{SUBSECTION}) eq "ARRAY") {
     ERROR "No volumes defined in configuration file";
     exit 2;