diff --git a/src/Paket.Bootstrapper/ArgumentParser.cs b/src/Paket.Bootstrapper/ArgumentParser.cs
index 202c1a8955..9e00b8d0d9 100644
--- a/src/Paket.Bootstrapper/ArgumentParser.cs
+++ b/src/Paket.Bootstrapper/ArgumentParser.cs
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 using System.IO;
 using System.Linq;
 using System.Security.Cryptography;
+using System.Xml.Linq;
 using System.Text;
 using Paket.Bootstrapper.HelperProxies;
 
@@ -27,6 +28,7 @@ public static class CommandArgs
             public const string Run = "--run";
             public const string OutputDir = "--output-dir=";
             public const string AsTool = "--as-tool";
+            public const string ConfigFile = "--config-file=";
         }
         public static class AppSettingKeys
         {
@@ -85,6 +87,15 @@ public static BootstrapperOptions ParseArgumentsAndConfigurations(IEnumerable<st
                 FillTarget(options.DownloadArguments, magicMode, fileSystem);
             }
 
+            var configFileArg = commandArgs.SingleOrDefault(x => x.StartsWith(CommandArgs.ConfigFile));
+            if (configFileArg != null)
+            {
+                commandArgs.Remove(configFileArg);
+                var configFilePath = configFileArg.Substring(CommandArgs.ConfigFile.Length);
+                var newSettings = ReadSettings(configFilePath);
+                appSettings = newSettings;
+            }
+
             // 1 - AppSettings
             FillOptionsFromAppSettings(options, appSettings);
 
@@ -155,6 +166,43 @@ public static BootstrapperOptions ParseArgumentsAndConfigurations(IEnumerable<st
             return options;
         }
 
+        private static NameValueCollection ReadSettings(string configFilePath)
+        {
+            var doc = XDocument.Load(configFilePath);
+
+            var nv = new NameValueCollection();
+
+            var appSettings = doc.Root.Element("appSettings");
+            if (appSettings == null)
+                throw new Exception(string.Format("appSettings element not found in file '{0}'", configFilePath));
+
+            var dic =
+                appSettings
+                .Elements("add")
+                .Select(x => {
+                    var keyAttr = x.Attribute("key");
+                    var valueAttr = x.Attribute("value");
+                    if (keyAttr == null || valueAttr == null)
+                        return new KeyValuePair<string, string>(); ;
+
+                    string key = keyAttr.Value;
+                    if (key == null)
+                        return new KeyValuePair<string, string>(); ;
+
+                    string value = valueAttr.Value;
+                    return new KeyValuePair<string, string>(key, value);
+                })
+                .Where(kv => kv.Key != null)
+                .ToArray();
+
+            foreach (var kv in dic)
+            {
+                nv.Add(kv.Key, kv.Value);
+            }
+
+            return nv;
+        }
+
         private static void FillOptionsFromAppSettings(BootstrapperOptions options, NameValueCollection appSettings)
         {
             if (appSettings.IsTrue(AppSettingKeys.PreferNuget))
diff --git a/src/Paket.Bootstrapper/Paket.Bootstrapper.csproj b/src/Paket.Bootstrapper/Paket.Bootstrapper.csproj
index 92676a9110..8c52a260c5 100644
--- a/src/Paket.Bootstrapper/Paket.Bootstrapper.csproj
+++ b/src/Paket.Bootstrapper/Paket.Bootstrapper.csproj
@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@
     <Reference Include="System.Data" />
     <Reference Include="System.IO.Compression.FileSystem" />
     <Reference Include="System.Xml" />
+    <Reference Include="System.Xml.Linq" />
   </ItemGroup>
   <ItemGroup>
     <Compile Include="ArgumentParser.cs" />
diff --git a/src/Paket.Bootstrapper/Program.cs b/src/Paket.Bootstrapper/Program.cs
index 410408aa1c..47072af42e 100644
--- a/src/Paket.Bootstrapper/Program.cs
+++ b/src/Paket.Bootstrapper/Program.cs
@@ -34,8 +34,23 @@ static void Main(string[] args)
 
             var fileProxy = new FileSystemProxy();
 
-            var appSettings =
-                ConfigurationManager.AppSettings;
+            var appSettings = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings;
+
+            var appConfigInWorkingDir = Path.Combine(Environment.CurrentDirectory, "paket.bootstrapper.exe.config");
+            if (File.Exists(appConfigInWorkingDir))
+            {
+                var exeInWorkingDir = Path.Combine(Environment.CurrentDirectory, "paket.bootstrapper.exe");
+                var exeConf = ConfigurationManager.OpenExeConfiguration(null);
+                if (exeConf != null)
+                {
+                    var nv = new System.Collections.Specialized.NameValueCollection();
+                    foreach (KeyValueConfigurationElement kv in exeConf.AppSettings.Settings)
+                    {
+                        nv.Add(kv.Key, kv.Value);
+                    }
+                    appSettings = nv;
+                }
+            }
 
             var optionsBeforeDependenciesFile = ArgumentParser.ParseArgumentsAndConfigurations(args, appSettings,
                 Environment.GetEnvironmentVariables(), fileProxy, Enumerable.Empty<string>());