diff --git a/builtin/init-db.c b/builtin/init-db.c
index 3a45f0bcfb..911e4822af 100644
--- a/builtin/init-db.c
+++ b/builtin/init-db.c
@@ -154,6 +154,14 @@ static int git_init_db_config(const char *k, const char *v, void *cb)
 	if (!strcmp(k, "init.templatedir"))
 		return git_config_pathname(&init_db_template_dir, k, v);
 
+	if (!strcmp(k, "core.hidedotfiles")) {
+		if (v && !strcasecmp(v, "dotgitonly"))
+			hide_dotfiles = HIDE_DOTFILES_DOTGITONLY;
+		else
+			hide_dotfiles = git_config_bool(k, v);
+		return 0;
+	}
+
 	return 0;
 }
 
@@ -188,9 +196,6 @@ static int create_default_files(const char *template_path)
 	safe_create_dir(git_path_buf(&buf, "refs/heads"), 1);
 	safe_create_dir(git_path_buf(&buf, "refs/tags"), 1);
 
-	/* Just look for `init.templatedir` */
-	git_config(git_init_db_config, NULL);
-
 	/* First copy the templates -- we might have the default
 	 * config file there, in which case we would want to read
 	 * from it after installing.
@@ -358,6 +363,9 @@ int init_db(const char *template_dir, unsigned int flags)
 	if (git_link)
 		separate_git_dir(git_dir);
 
+	/* Just look for `init.templatedir` and `core.hidedotfiles` */
+	git_config(git_init_db_config, NULL);
+
 	safe_create_dir(git_dir, 0);
 
 	init_is_bare_repository = is_bare_repository();
diff --git a/t/t0001-init.sh b/t/t0001-init.sh
index a6fdd5ef3a..7020aec3a0 100755
--- a/t/t0001-init.sh
+++ b/t/t0001-init.sh
@@ -384,4 +384,16 @@ test_expect_success MINGW 'bare git dir not hidden' '
 	! is_hidden newdir
 '
 
+test_expect_success MINGW 'core.hidedotfiles = false' '
+	git config --global core.hidedotfiles false &&
+	rm -rf newdir &&
+	(
+		unset GIT_DIR GIT_WORK_TREE GIT_CONFIG
+		mkdir newdir &&
+		cd newdir &&
+		git init
+	) &&
+	! is_hidden newdir/.git
+'
+
 test_done