diff --git a/source/dub/commandline.d b/source/dub/commandline.d
index 4b72527..7bb40bf 100644
--- a/source/dub/commandline.d
+++ b/source/dub/commandline.d
@@ -565,7 +565,7 @@
 	string root_path, recipeFile;
 	enum Color { automatic, on, off }
 	Color colorMode = Color.automatic;
-	SkipPackageSuppliers skipRegistry = SkipPackageSuppliers.none;
+	SkipPackageSuppliers skipRegistry = SkipPackageSuppliers.default_;
 	PlacementLocation placementLocation = PlacementLocation.user;
 
 	deprecated("Use `Color` instead, the previous naming was a limitation of error message formatting")
@@ -591,6 +591,30 @@
 				~ "', supported values: --color[=auto], --color=always, --color=never");
 	}
 
+	private void parseSkipRegistry(string option, string value) @safe
+	{
+		// We only want to support `none`, `standard`, `configured`, and `all`.
+		// We use a separate function to prevent getopt from parsing SkipPackageSuppliers.default_.
+		assert(option == "skip-registry",
+		       "parseSkipRegistry called with unknown option '" ~ option ~ "'");
+		switch (value) with (SkipPackageSuppliers) {
+		case "none":
+			skipRegistry = none;
+			break;
+		case "standard":
+			skipRegistry = standard;
+			break;
+		case "configured":
+			skipRegistry = configured;
+			break;
+		case "all":
+			skipRegistry = all;
+			break;
+		default:
+			throw new GetOptException("skip-registry only accepts 'none', 'standard', 'configured', and 'all', not '" ~ value ~ "'");
+		}
+	}
+
 	/// Parses all common options and stores the result in the struct instance.
 	void prepare(CommandArgs args)
 	{
@@ -602,7 +626,7 @@
 			"  DUB: URL to DUB registry (default)",
 			"  Maven: URL to Maven repository + group id containing dub packages as artifacts. E.g. mvn+http://localhost:8040/maven/libs-release/dubpackages",
 			]);
-		args.getopt("skip-registry", &skipRegistry, [
+		args.getopt("skip-registry", &skipRegistry, &parseSkipRegistry, [
 			"Sets a mode for skipping the search on certain package registry types:",
 			"  none: Search all configured or default registries (default)",
 			"  standard: Don't search the main registry (e.g. "~defaultRegistryURLs[0]~")",
diff --git a/source/dub/data/settings.d b/source/dub/data/settings.d
index 85531e0..20c6672 100644
--- a/source/dub/data/settings.d
+++ b/source/dub/data/settings.d
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
     standard,   /// Does not use the default package suppliers (`defaultPackageSuppliers`).
     configured, /// Does not use default suppliers or suppliers configured in DUB's configuration file
     all,        /// Uses only manually specified package suppliers.
+    default_,   /// The value wasn't specified. It is provided in order to know when it is safe to ignore it
 }
 
 /**
@@ -39,7 +40,22 @@
     @Optional string[] registryUrls;
     @Optional NativePath[] customCachePaths;
 
-    SetInfo!(SkipPackageSuppliers) skipRegistry;
+    private struct SkipRegistry {
+	    SkipPackageSuppliers skipRegistry;
+	    static SkipRegistry fromString (string value) {
+		    import std.conv : to;
+		    auto result = value.to!SkipPackageSuppliers;
+		    if (result == SkipPackageSuppliers.default_) {
+			    throw new Exception(
+				"skipRegistry value `default_` is only meant for interal use."
+				~ " Instead, use one of `none`, `standard`, `configured`, or `all`."
+						);
+		    }
+		    return SkipRegistry(result);
+	    }
+	    alias skipRegistry this;
+    }
+    SetInfo!(SkipRegistry) skipRegistry;
     SetInfo!(string) defaultCompiler;
     SetInfo!(string) defaultArchitecture;
     SetInfo!(bool) defaultLowMemory;
@@ -171,3 +187,15 @@
      auto m3 = Settings.init.merge(c1);
      assert(m3 == c1);
 }
+
+unittest {
+    // Test that SkipPackageRegistry.default_ is not allowed
+
+    import dub.internal.configy.Read;
+    import std.exception : assertThrown;
+
+    const str1 = `{
+  "skipRegistry": "all"
+`;
+    assertThrown!Exception(parseConfigString!Settings(str1, "/dev/null"));
+}
diff --git a/source/dub/dub.d b/source/dub/dub.d
index 62cbf00..ec8e83f 100644
--- a/source/dub/dub.d
+++ b/source/dub/dub.d
@@ -157,6 +157,13 @@
 
 		init();
 
+		if (skip == SkipPackageSuppliers.default_) {
+			// If unspecified on the command line, take
+			// the value from the configuration files, or
+			// default to none.
+			skip = m_config.skipRegistry.set ? m_config.skipRegistry.value : SkipPackageSuppliers.none;
+		}
+
 		const registry_var = environment.get("DUB_REGISTRY", null);
 		m_packageSuppliers = this.makePackageSuppliers(base, skip, registry_var);
 		m_packageManager = this.makePackageManager();