diff --git a/internal/exec/engine.go b/internal/exec/engine.go
index 8e2ad1327a..1f90a6fcc2 100644
--- a/internal/exec/engine.go
+++ b/internal/exec/engine.go
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ import (
 	"net/url"
 	"os"
 	"strconv"
+	"strings"
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/coreos/go-systemd/v22/journal"
@@ -108,7 +109,7 @@ func (e Engine) Run(stageName string) error {
 		e.Fetcher.Offline = true
 	}
 
-	cfg, err := e.acquireConfig()
+	cfg, err := e.acquireConfig(stageName)
 	if err == resource.ErrNeedNet && stageName == "fetch-offline" {
 		err = SignalNeedNet()
 		if err != nil {
@@ -162,11 +163,30 @@ func logStructuredJournalEntry(config string, src string, isReferenced bool) err
 	return nil
 }
 
-// acquireConfig returns the configuration, first checking a local cache
-// before attempting to fetch it from the provider.
-func (e *Engine) acquireConfig() (cfg types.Config, err error) {
+// acquireConfig will perform differently based on the stage it is being
+// called from. In fetch stages it will attempt to fetch the provider
+// config (writing an empty provider config if it is empty). In all other
+// stages it will attempt to fetch from the local cache only.
+func (e *Engine) acquireConfig(stageName string) (cfg types.Config, err error) {
+	switch {
+	case strings.HasPrefix(stageName, "fetch"):
+		cfg, err = e.acquireProviderConfig()
+		if err == errors.ErrEmpty {
+			e.Logger.Info("%v: provider config was empty, writing empty cache config", err)
+			if err = renameio.WriteFile(e.ConfigCache, []byte("{}"), 0640); err != nil {
+				e.Logger.Crit("failed to write empty cached config: %v", err)
+			}
+		}
+		break
+	default:
+		cfg, err = e.acquireCachedConfig()
+	}
+	return
+}
 
-	// First try read the config @ e.ConfigCache.
+// acquireCachedConfig returns the configuration from a local cache if
+// available
+func (e *Engine) acquireCachedConfig() (cfg types.Config, err error) {
 	b, err := ioutil.ReadFile(e.ConfigCache)
 	if err == nil {
 		if err = json.Unmarshal(b, &cfg); err != nil {
@@ -179,9 +199,13 @@ func (e *Engine) acquireConfig() (cfg types.Config, err error) {
 			e.Logger.Crit("failed to update timeouts and CAs for fetcher: %v", err)
 			return
 		}
-		return
 	}
+	return
+}
 
+// acquireProviderConfig attempts to fetch the configuration from the
+// provider.
+func (e *Engine) acquireProviderConfig() (cfg types.Config, err error) {
 	// Create a new http client and fetcher with the timeouts set via the flags,
 	// since we don't have a config with timeout values we can use
 	timeout := int(e.FetchTimeout.Seconds())
@@ -222,7 +246,7 @@ func (e *Engine) acquireConfig() (cfg types.Config, err error) {
 	}
 
 	// Populate the config cache.
-	b, err = json.Marshal(cfg)
+	b, err := json.Marshal(cfg)
 	if err != nil {
 		e.Logger.Crit("failed to marshal cached config: %v", err)
 		return
diff --git a/tests/blackbox_test.go b/tests/blackbox_test.go
index 189453e2b7..b7c240febd 100644
--- a/tests/blackbox_test.go
+++ b/tests/blackbox_test.go
@@ -279,6 +279,10 @@ func outer(t *testing.T, test types.Test, negativeTests bool) error {
 	appendEnv = append(appendEnv, "IGNITION_SYSTEM_CONFIG_DIR="+systemConfigDir)
 
 	if !negativeTests {
+		if err := runIgnition(t, ctx, "fetch", "", tmpDirectory, appendEnv); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+
 		if err := runIgnition(t, ctx, "disks", "", tmpDirectory, appendEnv); err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
@@ -315,6 +319,10 @@ func outer(t *testing.T, test types.Test, negativeTests bool) error {
 		}
 		return nil
 	} else {
+		if err := runIgnition(t, ctx, "fetch", "", tmpDirectory, appendEnv); err != nil {
+			return nil // error is expected
+		}
+
 		if err := runIgnition(t, ctx, "disks", "", tmpDirectory, appendEnv); err != nil {
 			return nil // error is expected
 		}
diff --git a/tests/filesystem.go b/tests/filesystem.go
index f6d711ca99..dcf0f2fc5c 100644
--- a/tests/filesystem.go
+++ b/tests/filesystem.go
@@ -152,7 +152,7 @@ func umountPartition(p *types.Partition) error {
 
 // returns true if no error, false if error
 func runIgnition(t *testing.T, ctx context.Context, stage, root, cwd string, appendEnv []string) error {
-	args := []string{"-clear-cache", "-platform", "file", "-stage", stage,
+	args := []string{"-platform", "file", "-stage", stage,
 		"-root", root, "-log-to-stdout", "--config-cache", filepath.Join(cwd, "ignition.json")}
 	cmd := exec.CommandContext(ctx, "ignition", args...)
 	t.Log("ignition", args)