diff --git a/cmd/tendermint/commands/debug/debug.go b/cmd/tendermint/commands/debug/debug.go
index 7fd5b030f..2825df6cb 100644
--- a/cmd/tendermint/commands/debug/debug.go
+++ b/cmd/tendermint/commands/debug/debug.go
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ package debug
 import (
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
 
+	"github.com/tendermint/tendermint/config"
 	"github.com/tendermint/tendermint/libs/log"
 )
 
@@ -12,7 +13,7 @@ const (
 	flagFrequency   = "frequency"
 )
 
-func GetDebugCommand(logger log.Logger) *cobra.Command {
+func GetDebugCommand(conf *config.Config, logger log.Logger) *cobra.Command {
 	cmd := &cobra.Command{
 		Use:   "debug",
 		Short: "A utility to kill or watch a Tendermint process while aggregating debugging data",
@@ -25,7 +26,7 @@ func GetDebugCommand(logger log.Logger) *cobra.Command {
 	)
 
 	cmd.AddCommand(getKillCmd(logger))
-	cmd.AddCommand(getDumpCmd(logger))
+	cmd.AddCommand(getDumpCmd(conf, logger))
 	return cmd
 
 }
diff --git a/cmd/tendermint/commands/debug/dump.go b/cmd/tendermint/commands/debug/dump.go
index 95c2d69bf..cb917bb86 100644
--- a/cmd/tendermint/commands/debug/dump.go
+++ b/cmd/tendermint/commands/debug/dump.go
@@ -9,15 +9,12 @@ import (
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
-	"github.com/spf13/viper"
-
-	"github.com/tendermint/tendermint/cmd/tendermint/commands"
 	"github.com/tendermint/tendermint/config"
 	"github.com/tendermint/tendermint/libs/log"
 	rpchttp "github.com/tendermint/tendermint/rpc/client/http"
 )
 
-func getDumpCmd(logger log.Logger) *cobra.Command {
+func getDumpCmd(conf *config.Config, logger log.Logger) *cobra.Command {
 	cmd := &cobra.Command{
 		Use:   "dump [output-directory]",
 		Short: "Continuously poll a Tendermint process and dump debugging data into a single location",
@@ -63,11 +60,6 @@ if enabled.`,
 
 			ctx := cmd.Context()
 
-			home := viper.GetString(commands.HomeFlag)
-			conf := config.DefaultConfig()
-			conf = conf.SetRoot(home)
-			config.EnsureRoot(conf.RootDir)
-
 			dumpArgs := dumpDebugDataArgs{
 				conf:     conf,
 				outDir:   outDir,
diff --git a/cmd/tendermint/main.go b/cmd/tendermint/main.go
index 88320fa99..d8fe748da 100644
--- a/cmd/tendermint/main.go
+++ b/cmd/tendermint/main.go
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ func main() {
 		commands.MakeInspectCommand(conf, logger),
 		commands.MakeRollbackStateCommand(conf),
 		commands.MakeKeyMigrateCommand(conf, logger),
-		debug.GetDebugCommand(logger),
+		debug.GetDebugCommand(conf, logger),
 		commands.NewCompletionCmd(rcmd, true),
 		commands.MakeCompactDBCommand(conf, logger),
 	)
diff --git a/config/toml.go b/config/toml.go
index c24c22e2f..e9a12cab7 100644
--- a/config/toml.go
+++ b/config/toml.go
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ func Load(rootDir string) (*Config, error) {
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
-	config.SetRoot(config.RootDir)
+	config.SetRoot(rootDir)
 
 	if err := config.ValidateBasic(); err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("error in config file: %w", err)