diff --git a/hugolib/config.go b/hugolib/config.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..285e3567a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hugolib/config.go
@@ -0,0 +1,107 @@
+// Copyright 2016-present The Hugo Authors. All rights reserved.
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+// http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package hugolib
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+
+	"github.com/spf13/hugo/helpers"
+	"github.com/spf13/viper"
+)
+
+// LoadGlobalConfig loads Hugo configuration into the global Viper.
+func LoadGlobalConfig(relativeSourcePath, configFilename string) error {
+
+	if relativeSourcePath == "" {
+		relativeSourcePath = "."
+	}
+
+	viper.AutomaticEnv()
+	viper.SetEnvPrefix("hugo")
+	viper.SetConfigFile(configFilename)
+	// See https://github.com/spf13/viper/issues/73#issuecomment-126970794
+	if relativeSourcePath == "" {
+		viper.AddConfigPath(".")
+	} else {
+		viper.AddConfigPath(relativeSourcePath)
+	}
+	err := viper.ReadInConfig()
+	if err != nil {
+		if _, ok := err.(viper.ConfigParseError); ok {
+			return err
+		}
+		return fmt.Errorf("Unable to locate Config file. Perhaps you need to create a new site.\n       Run `hugo help new` for details. (%s)\n", err)
+	}
+
+	viper.RegisterAlias("indexes", "taxonomies")
+
+	loadDefaultSettings()
+
+	return nil
+}
+
+func loadDefaultSettings() {
+	viper.SetDefault("cleanDestinationDir", false)
+	viper.SetDefault("Watch", false)
+	viper.SetDefault("MetaDataFormat", "toml")
+	viper.SetDefault("Disable404", false)
+	viper.SetDefault("DisableRSS", false)
+	viper.SetDefault("DisableSitemap", false)
+	viper.SetDefault("DisableRobotsTXT", false)
+	viper.SetDefault("ContentDir", "content")
+	viper.SetDefault("LayoutDir", "layouts")
+	viper.SetDefault("StaticDir", "static")
+	viper.SetDefault("ArchetypeDir", "archetypes")
+	viper.SetDefault("PublishDir", "public")
+	viper.SetDefault("DataDir", "data")
+	viper.SetDefault("I18nDir", "i18n")
+	viper.SetDefault("ThemesDir", "themes")
+	viper.SetDefault("DefaultLayout", "post")
+	viper.SetDefault("BuildDrafts", false)
+	viper.SetDefault("BuildFuture", false)
+	viper.SetDefault("BuildExpired", false)
+	viper.SetDefault("UglyURLs", false)
+	viper.SetDefault("Verbose", false)
+	viper.SetDefault("IgnoreCache", false)
+	viper.SetDefault("CanonifyURLs", false)
+	viper.SetDefault("RelativeURLs", false)
+	viper.SetDefault("RemovePathAccents", false)
+	viper.SetDefault("Taxonomies", map[string]string{"tag": "tags", "category": "categories"})
+	viper.SetDefault("Permalinks", make(PermalinkOverrides, 0))
+	viper.SetDefault("Sitemap", Sitemap{Priority: -1, Filename: "sitemap.xml"})
+	viper.SetDefault("DefaultExtension", "html")
+	viper.SetDefault("PygmentsStyle", "monokai")
+	viper.SetDefault("PygmentsUseClasses", false)
+	viper.SetDefault("PygmentsCodeFences", false)
+	viper.SetDefault("PygmentsOptions", "")
+	viper.SetDefault("DisableLiveReload", false)
+	viper.SetDefault("PluralizeListTitles", true)
+	viper.SetDefault("PreserveTaxonomyNames", false)
+	viper.SetDefault("ForceSyncStatic", false)
+	viper.SetDefault("FootnoteAnchorPrefix", "")
+	viper.SetDefault("FootnoteReturnLinkContents", "")
+	viper.SetDefault("NewContentEditor", "")
+	viper.SetDefault("Paginate", 10)
+	viper.SetDefault("PaginatePath", "page")
+	viper.SetDefault("Blackfriday", helpers.NewBlackfriday())
+	viper.SetDefault("RSSUri", "index.xml")
+	viper.SetDefault("SectionPagesMenu", "")
+	viper.SetDefault("DisablePathToLower", false)
+	viper.SetDefault("HasCJKLanguage", false)
+	viper.SetDefault("EnableEmoji", false)
+	viper.SetDefault("PygmentsCodeFencesGuessSyntax", false)
+	viper.SetDefault("UseModTimeAsFallback", false)
+	viper.SetDefault("Multilingual", false)
+	viper.SetDefault("DefaultContentLanguage", "en")
+}
diff --git a/hugolib/config_test.go b/hugolib/config_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..db0cb7117
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hugolib/config_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+// Copyright 2016-present The Hugo Authors. All rights reserved.
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+// http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package hugolib
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/spf13/viper"
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
+)
+
+func TestLoadGlobalConfig(t *testing.T) {
+	// Add a random config variable for testing.
+	// side = page in Norwegian.
+	configContent := `
+	PaginatePath = "side"
+	`
+
+	writeSource(t, "config.toml", configContent)
+
+	require.NoError(t, LoadGlobalConfig("", "config.toml"))
+	assert.Equal(t, "side", viper.GetString("PaginatePath"))
+	// default
+	assert.Equal(t, "layouts", viper.GetString("LayoutDir"))
+}
diff --git a/hugolib/hugo_sites_test.go b/hugolib/hugo_sites_test.go
index 185c241a5..8e5b6ae16 100644
--- a/hugolib/hugo_sites_test.go
+++ b/hugolib/hugo_sites_test.go
@@ -29,18 +29,8 @@ func init() {
 func testCommonResetState() {
 	hugofs.InitMemFs()
 	viper.Reset()
-	viper.Set("ContentDir", "content")
-	viper.Set("DataDir", "data")
-	viper.Set("I18nDir", "i18n")
-	viper.Set("themesDir", "themes")
-	viper.Set("LayoutDir", "layouts")
-	viper.Set("PublishDir", "public")
-	viper.Set("RSSUri", "rss")
-
-	viper.Set("Taxonomies", map[string]interface{}{
-		"tag":      "tags",
-		"category": "categories",
-	})
+	viper.SetFs(hugofs.Source())
+	loadDefaultSettings()
 
 	if err := hugofs.Source().Mkdir("content", 0755); err != nil {
 		panic("Content folder creation failed.")