diff --git a/repo-settings.c b/repo-settings.c
index 459041f65c..ffeee85de0 100644
--- a/repo-settings.c
+++ b/repo-settings.c
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ void prepare_repo_settings(struct repository *r)
 	repo_cfg_bool(r, "fetch.writecommitgraph", &r->settings.fetch_write_commit_graph, 0);
 	repo_cfg_bool(r, "pack.usesparse", &r->settings.pack_use_sparse, 1);
 	repo_cfg_bool(r, "core.multipackindex", &r->settings.core_multi_pack_index, 1);
-	repo_cfg_bool(r, "index.sparse", &r->settings.sparse_index, 0);
+	repo_cfg_bool(r, "index.sparse", &r->settings.sparse_index, 1);
 
 	/*
 	 * The GIT_TEST_MULTI_PACK_INDEX variable is special in that
diff --git a/t/t1092-sparse-checkout-compatibility.sh b/t/t1092-sparse-checkout-compatibility.sh
index f9f8c988bb..f5d25027f9 100755
--- a/t/t1092-sparse-checkout-compatibility.sh
+++ b/t/t1092-sparse-checkout-compatibility.sh
@@ -155,6 +155,7 @@ init_repos () {
 	git -C sparse-index reset --hard &&
 
 	# initialize sparse-checkout definitions
+	git -C sparse-checkout config index.sparse false &&
 	git -C sparse-checkout sparse-checkout init --cone &&
 	git -C sparse-checkout sparse-checkout set deep &&
 	git -C sparse-index sparse-checkout init --cone --sparse-index &&
diff --git a/t/t7817-grep-sparse-checkout.sh b/t/t7817-grep-sparse-checkout.sh
index eb59564565..db3004c4fe 100755
--- a/t/t7817-grep-sparse-checkout.sh
+++ b/t/t7817-grep-sparse-checkout.sh
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ test_expect_success 'setup' '
 		echo "text" >B/b &&
 		git add A B &&
 		git commit -m sub &&
-		git sparse-checkout init --cone &&
+		git sparse-checkout init --cone --no-sparse-index &&
 		git sparse-checkout set B
 	) &&