diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 147ec074..d94aa727 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ ncmpc 0.50 - not yet released
 * lyrics/musixmatch: add new lyrics extension
 * lyrics/google: fix partial loading of lyrics
 * support MPD 0.22 tag "label" (requires libmpdclient 2.17)
+* fix config file overriding MPD_HOST environment variable
 
 ncmpc 0.49 - (2023-08-04)
 * fix UI freeze if lyrics plugin is stuck
diff --git a/src/Main.cxx b/src/Main.cxx
index 1746899a..715486a3 100644
--- a/src/Main.cxx
+++ b/src/Main.cxx
@@ -288,6 +288,9 @@ try {
 	GetGlobalKeyBindings().Check(nullptr, 0);
 #endif
 
+	/* set options from environment variables */
+	options_env();
+
 	/* parse command line options - 2 pass */
 	options_parse(argc, argv);
 
diff --git a/src/Options.cxx b/src/Options.cxx
index dac25b31..03ecbbc1 100644
--- a/src/Options.cxx
+++ b/src/Options.cxx
@@ -321,7 +321,11 @@ options_parse(int argc, const char *argv[])
 		handle_option(opt->shortopt, nullptr);
 	else if (opt && opt->argument)
 		option_error(ERROR_MISSING_ARGUMENT, opt->longopt, opt->argument);
+}
 
-	if (options.host.empty() && getenv("MPD_HOST"))
+void
+options_env()
+{
+	if (getenv("MPD_HOST"))
 		options.host = getenv("MPD_HOST");
 }
diff --git a/src/Options.hxx b/src/Options.hxx
index 1794a0c9..5e2a5db9 100644
--- a/src/Options.hxx
+++ b/src/Options.hxx
@@ -78,3 +78,5 @@ struct Options {
 extern Options options;
 
 void options_parse(int argc, const char **argv);
+
+void options_env();