diff --git a/changelogs/unreleased/1931-Frank51 b/changelogs/unreleased/1931-Frank51
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4a32ea841
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/unreleased/1931-Frank51
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Add --no-default-backup-location flag to velero install
diff --git a/pkg/cmd/cli/install/install.go b/pkg/cmd/cli/install/install.go
index 55d7a303e..fa6dd0524 100644
--- a/pkg/cmd/cli/install/install.go
+++ b/pkg/cmd/cli/install/install.go
@@ -65,6 +65,7 @@ type InstallOptions struct {
 	UseVolumeSnapshots                bool
 	DefaultResticMaintenanceFrequency time.Duration
 	Plugins                           flag.StringArray
+	NoDefaultBackupLocation           bool
 }
 
 // BindFlags adds command line values to the options struct.
@@ -73,6 +74,7 @@ func (o *InstallOptions) BindFlags(flags *pflag.FlagSet) {
 	flags.StringVar(&o.BucketName, "bucket", o.BucketName, "name of the object storage bucket where backups should be stored")
 	flags.StringVar(&o.SecretFile, "secret-file", o.SecretFile, "file containing credentials for backup and volume provider. If not specified, --no-secret must be used for confirmation. Optional.")
 	flags.BoolVar(&o.NoSecret, "no-secret", o.NoSecret, "flag indicating if a secret should be created. Must be used as confirmation if --secret-file is not provided. Optional.")
+	flags.BoolVar(&o.NoDefaultBackupLocation, "no-default-backup-location", o.NoDefaultBackupLocation, "flag indicating if a default backup location should be created. Must be used as confirmation if --bucket or --provider are not provided. Optional.")
 	flags.StringVar(&o.Image, "image", o.Image, "image to use for the Velero and restic server pods. Optional.")
 	flags.StringVar(&o.Prefix, "prefix", o.Prefix, "prefix under which all Velero data should be stored within the bucket. Optional.")
 	flags.Var(&o.PodAnnotations, "pod-annotations", "annotations to add to the Velero and restic pods. Optional. Format is key1=value1,key2=value2")
@@ -114,7 +116,8 @@ func NewInstallOptions() *InstallOptions {
 		ResticPodCPULimit:         install.DefaultResticPodCPULimit,
 		ResticPodMemLimit:         install.DefaultResticPodMemLimit,
 		// Default to creating a VSL unless we're told otherwise
-		UseVolumeSnapshots: true,
+		UseVolumeSnapshots:      true,
+		NoDefaultBackupLocation: false,
 	}
 }
 
@@ -158,6 +161,7 @@ func (o *InstallOptions) AsVeleroOptions() (*install.VeleroOptions, error) {
 		VSLConfig:                         o.VolumeSnapshotConfig.Data(),
 		DefaultResticMaintenanceFrequency: o.DefaultResticMaintenanceFrequency,
 		Plugins:                           o.Plugins,
+		NoDefaultBackupLocation:           o.NoDefaultBackupLocation,
 	}, nil
 }
 
@@ -264,6 +268,11 @@ func (o *InstallOptions) Run(c *cobra.Command, f client.Factory) error {
 	if o.SecretFile == "" {
 		fmt.Printf("\nNo secret file was specified, no Secret created.\n\n")
 	}
+
+	if o.NoDefaultBackupLocation {
+		fmt.Printf("\nNo bucket and provider were specified, no default backup storage location created.\n\n")
+	}
+
 	fmt.Printf("Velero is installed! ⛵ Use 'kubectl logs deployment/velero -n %s' to view the status.\n", o.Namespace)
 	return nil
 }
@@ -280,10 +289,6 @@ func (o *InstallOptions) Validate(c *cobra.Command, args []string, f client.Fact
 		return err
 	}
 
-	if o.BucketName == "" {
-		return errors.New("--bucket is required")
-	}
-
 	// Our main 3 providers don't support bucket names starting with a dash, and a bucket name starting with one
 	// can indicate that an environment variable was left blank.
 	// This case will help catch that error
@@ -291,8 +296,44 @@ func (o *InstallOptions) Validate(c *cobra.Command, args []string, f client.Fact
 		return errors.Errorf("Bucket names cannot begin with a dash. Bucket name was: %s", o.BucketName)
 	}
 
-	if o.ProviderName == "" {
-		return errors.New("--provider is required")
+	if o.NoDefaultBackupLocation {
+
+		if o.BucketName != "" {
+			return errors.New("Cannot use both --bucket and --no-default-backup-location at the same time")
+		}
+
+		if o.Prefix != "" {
+			return errors.New("Cannot use both --prefix and --no-default-backup-location at the same time")
+		}
+
+		if o.BackupStorageConfig.String() != "" {
+			return errors.New("Cannot use both --backup-location-config and --no-default-backup-location at the same time")
+		}
+	} else {
+		if o.ProviderName == "" {
+			return errors.New("--provider is required")
+		}
+
+		if o.BucketName == "" {
+			return errors.New("--bucket is required")
+		}
+
+	}
+
+	if o.UseVolumeSnapshots {
+		if o.ProviderName == "" {
+			return errors.New("--provider is required when --use-volume-snapshots is set to true")
+		}
+	} else {
+		if o.VolumeSnapshotConfig.String() != "" {
+			return errors.New("--snapshot-location-config must be empty when --use-volume-snapshots=false")
+		}
+	}
+
+	if o.NoDefaultBackupLocation && !o.UseVolumeSnapshots {
+		if o.ProviderName != "" {
+			return errors.New("--provider must be empty when using --no-default-backup-location and --use-volume-snapshots=false")
+		}
 	}
 
 	switch {
diff --git a/pkg/install/resources.go b/pkg/install/resources.go
index a27e5ae1c..9a0afaf47 100644
--- a/pkg/install/resources.go
+++ b/pkg/install/resources.go
@@ -216,6 +216,7 @@ type VeleroOptions struct {
 	VSLConfig                         map[string]string
 	DefaultResticMaintenanceFrequency time.Duration
 	Plugins                           []string
+	NoDefaultBackupLocation           bool
 }
 
 // AllResources returns a list of all resources necessary to install Velero, in the appropriate order, into a Kubernetes cluster.
@@ -244,8 +245,10 @@ func AllResources(o *VeleroOptions) (*unstructured.UnstructuredList, error) {
 		appendUnstructured(resources, sec)
 	}
 
-	bsl := BackupStorageLocation(o.Namespace, o.ProviderName, o.Bucket, o.Prefix, o.BSLConfig)
-	appendUnstructured(resources, bsl)
+	if !o.NoDefaultBackupLocation {
+		bsl := BackupStorageLocation(o.Namespace, o.ProviderName, o.Bucket, o.Prefix, o.BSLConfig)
+		appendUnstructured(resources, bsl)
+	}
 
 	// A snapshot location may not be desirable for users relying on restic
 	if o.UseVolumeSnapshots {
diff --git a/site/docs/master/install-overview.md b/site/docs/master/install-overview.md
index 684d806e4..5c5706868 100644
--- a/site/docs/master/install-overview.md
+++ b/site/docs/master/install-overview.md
@@ -38,6 +38,8 @@ platform-agnostic backup solution for volume data.
 
 Whether you run Velero on a cloud provider or on-premises, if you have more than one volume snapshot location for a given volume provider, you can specify its default location for backups by setting a server flag in your Velero deployment YAML.
 
+If you need to install Velero without a default backup storage location (without specifying `--bucket` or `--provider`), the `--no-default-backup-location` flag is required for confirmation.
+
 For details, see the documentation topics for individual cloud providers.
 
 ## Installing with the Helm chart