diff --git a/cli.py b/cli.py
--- a/cli.py    2011-01-11 11:05:35.000000000 -0500
+++ b/cli.py    2012-01-30 06:26:06.803764007 -0500
@@ -1531,13 +1531,14 @@ class YumOptionParser(OptionParser):
         self._checkAbsInstallRoot(opts)
         # If the conf file is inside the  installroot - use that.
         # otherwise look for it in the normal root
+        if opts.conffile==None:
+            opts.conffile = '/etc/yum/yum.conf'
+            if opts.installroot:
+                if os.access(opts.installroot+opts.conffile, os.R_OK):
+                    opts.conffile = opts.installroot+opts.conffile
+                elif os.access(opts.installroot+'/etc/yum.conf', os.R_OK):
+                    opts.conffile = opts.installroot+'/etc/yum.conf'
         if opts.installroot:
-            if os.access(opts.installroot+'/'+opts.conffile, os.R_OK):
-                opts.conffile = opts.installroot+'/'+opts.conffile
-            elif opts.conffile == '/etc/yum/yum.conf':
-                # check if /installroot/etc/yum.conf exists.
-                if os.access(opts.installroot+'/etc/yum.conf', os.R_OK):
-                    opts.conffile = opts.installroot+'/etc/yum.conf'
             root=opts.installroot
         else:
             root = '/'
@@ -1394,7 +1395,6 @@ class YumOptionParser(OptionParser):
                 action="store_true",
                 help=_("run entirely from system cache, don't update cache"))
         group.add_option("-c", "--config", dest="conffile",
-                default='/etc/yum/yum.conf',
                 help=_("config file location"), metavar='[config file]')
         group.add_option("-R", "--randomwait", dest="sleeptime", type='int',
                 default=None,