diff --git a/archive.c b/archive.c
index 42f2d2fdc8..2616676fc7 100644
--- a/archive.c
+++ b/archive.c
@@ -387,17 +387,27 @@ static int parse_archive_args(int argc, const char **argv,
 int write_archive(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix,
 		int setup_prefix)
 {
+	int nongit = 0;
 	const struct archiver *ar = NULL;
 	struct archiver_args args;
 
-	argc = parse_archive_args(argc, argv, &ar, &args);
 	if (setup_prefix && prefix == NULL)
-		prefix = setup_git_directory();
+		prefix = setup_git_directory_gently(&nongit);
+
+	git_config(git_default_config, NULL);
+
+	argc = parse_archive_args(argc, argv, &ar, &args);
+	if (nongit) {
+		/*
+		 * We know this will die() with an error, so we could just
+		 * die ourselves; but its error message will be more specific
+		 * than what we could write here.
+		 */
+		setup_git_directory();
+	}
 
 	parse_treeish_arg(argv, &args, prefix);
 	parse_pathspec_arg(argv + 1, &args);
 
-	git_config(git_default_config, NULL);
-
 	return ar->write_archive(&args);
 }