diff --git a/src/core_plugins/timelion/init.js b/src/core_plugins/timelion/init.js
index 9e6a0f1223d13..36fb506d8de62 100644
--- a/src/core_plugins/timelion/init.js
+++ b/src/core_plugins/timelion/init.js
@@ -4,8 +4,6 @@ var processFunctionDefinition = require('./server/lib/process_function_definitio
 module.exports = function (server) {
   //var config = server.config();
 
-  require('./server/lib/populate_config')(server);
-
   require('./server/routes/run.js')(server);
   require('./server/routes/functions.js')(server);
   require('./server/routes/validate_es.js')(server);
diff --git a/src/core_plugins/timelion/server/lib/populate_config.js b/src/core_plugins/timelion/server/lib/populate_config.js
deleted file mode 100644
index c2e323fb9db50..0000000000000
--- a/src/core_plugins/timelion/server/lib/populate_config.js
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,35 +0,0 @@
-var _ = require('lodash');
-var getNamespacedSettings = require('./get_namespaced_settings');
-
-module.exports = function (server) {
-
-  // Namespace everything in timelion.json
-  var timelionDefaults = getNamespacedSettings();
-
-  // Get all existing "advanced settings"
-  server.uiSettings().getAll().then((existingSettings) => {
-
-    // Find all timelion settings that don't yet exist in kibana's config
-    var missingKeys = _.reduce(timelionDefaults, (result, value, key) => {
-      if (existingSettings[key] == null) result.push(key);
-      return result;
-    }, []);
-
-    // Recursive function writes one of the missing keys at a time
-    // If we just spray and pray HTTP requests we will get version conflicts.
-    function writeMissing(keys) {
-
-      // Pop one key off the missingKeys array unless it is empty
-      if (!keys.length) return;
-      var key = keys.pop();
-      var timelionDefault = timelionDefaults[key];
-
-      server.uiSettings()
-        .set(key, timelionDefault)
-        .then(() => writeMissing(keys));
-    }
-
-    writeMissing(missingKeys);
-  });
-
-};