diff --git a/builtin/fetch.c b/builtin/fetch.c
index 93c9938..e422ced 100644
--- a/builtin/fetch.c
+++ b/builtin/fetch.c
@@ -941,6 +941,15 @@
 	argc = parse_options(argc, argv, prefix,
 			     builtin_fetch_options, builtin_fetch_usage, 0);
 
+	if (recurse_submodules != RECURSE_SUBMODULES_OFF) {
+		if (recurse_submodules_default) {
+			int arg = parse_fetch_recurse_submodules_arg("--recurse-submodules-default", recurse_submodules_default);
+			set_config_fetch_recurse_submodules(arg);
+		}
+		gitmodules_config();
+		git_config(submodule_config, NULL);
+	}
+
 	if (all) {
 		if (argc == 1)
 			die(_("fetch --all does not take a repository argument"));
@@ -976,12 +985,6 @@
 	if (!result && (recurse_submodules != RECURSE_SUBMODULES_OFF)) {
 		const char *options[10];
 		int num_options = 0;
-		if (recurse_submodules_default) {
-			int arg = parse_fetch_recurse_submodules_arg("--recurse-submodules-default", recurse_submodules_default);
-			set_config_fetch_recurse_submodules(arg);
-		}
-		gitmodules_config();
-		git_config(submodule_config, NULL);
 		add_options_to_argv(&num_options, options);
 		result = fetch_populated_submodules(num_options, options,
 						    submodule_prefix,
diff --git a/submodule.c b/submodule.c
index 1ba9646..b648927 100644
--- a/submodule.c
+++ b/submodule.c
@@ -373,6 +373,10 @@
 	const char *argv[] = {NULL, NULL, "--not", "--all", NULL};
 	int argc = ARRAY_SIZE(argv) - 1;
 
+	/* No need to check if there are no submodules configured */
+	if (!config_name_for_path.nr)
+		return;
+
 	init_revisions(&rev, NULL);
 	argv[1] = xstrdup(sha1_to_hex(new_sha1));
 	setup_revisions(argc, argv, &rev, NULL);