diff --git a/pkg/config/config.go b/pkg/config/config.go
index f300cd0798e..6f954bf9c2d 100644
--- a/pkg/config/config.go
+++ b/pkg/config/config.go
@@ -645,17 +645,11 @@ func (c *Config) UpdateFromDropInFile(path string) error {
 	t := new(tomlConfig)
 	t.fromConfig(c)
 
-	metadata, err := toml.Decode(string(data), t)
+	_, err = toml.Decode(string(data), t)
 	if err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("unable to decode configuration %v: %w", path, err)
 	}
 
-	runtimesKey := []string{"crio", "runtime", "default_runtime"}
-	if metadata.IsDefined(runtimesKey...) &&
-		t.Crio.Runtime.RuntimeConfig.DefaultRuntime != defaultRuntime {
-		delete(c.Runtimes, defaultRuntime)
-	}
-
 	storageOpts = append(storageOpts, t.Crio.RootConfig.StorageOptions...)
 	storageOpts = removeDupStorageOpts(storageOpts)
 	t.Crio.RootConfig.StorageOptions = storageOpts
diff --git a/pkg/config/template.go b/pkg/config/template.go
index 6c82a070534..9c2be158126 100644
--- a/pkg/config/template.go
+++ b/pkg/config/template.go
@@ -1064,8 +1064,7 @@ const templateStringCrioRuntimeEnableCriuSupport = `# Globally enable/disable CR
 
 const templateStringCrioRuntimeDefaultRuntime = `# default_runtime is the _name_ of the OCI runtime to be used as the default.
 # default_runtime is the _name_ of the OCI runtime to be used as the default.
-# The name is matched against the runtimes map below. If this value is changed,
-# the corresponding existing entry from the runtimes map below will be ignored.
+# The name is matched against the runtimes map below.
 {{ $.Comment }}default_runtime = "{{ .DefaultRuntime }}"
 
 `
diff --git a/test/config.bats b/test/config.bats
index 52c36984ad4..b22eb60add2 100644
--- a/test/config.bats
+++ b/test/config.bats
@@ -45,14 +45,33 @@ function teardown() {
 	[[ "$output" == *"not a valid logrus"*"wrong-level"* ]]
 }
 
-@test "replace default runtime should succeed" {
+@test "choose different default runtime should succeed" {
 	# when
 	unset CONTAINER_RUNTIMES
 	RES=$("$CRIO_BINARY_PATH" -c "$TESTDATA"/50-crun-default.conf -d "" config 2>&1)
 
 	# then
 	[[ "$RES" == *"default_runtime = \"crun\""* ]]
-	[[ "$RES" != *"crio.runtime.runtimes.runc"* ]]
+	[[ "$RES" == *"crio.runtime.runtimes.runc"* ]]
+	[[ "$RES" == *"crio.runtime.runtimes.crun"* ]]
+}
+
+@test "runc not existing when default_runtime changed should succeed" {
+	# when
+	unset CONTAINER_RUNTIMES
+	cat << EOF > "$TESTDIR"/50-runc-new-path.conf
+[crio.runtime]
+default_runtime = "crun"
+[crio.runtime.runtimes.runc]
+runtime_path = "/not/there"
+[crio.runtime.runtimes.crun]
+runtime_path="/usr/bin/crun"
+EOF
+	RES=$("$CRIO_BINARY_PATH" -c "$TESTDIR"/50-runc-new-path.conf -d "" config 2>&1)
+
+	# then
+	[[ "$RES" == *"default_runtime = \"crun\""* ]]
+	[[ "$RES" == *"crio.runtime.runtimes.runc"* ]]
 	[[ "$RES" == *"crio.runtime.runtimes.crun"* ]]
 }