diff --git a/CHANGELOG b/CHANGELOG
index 850d88ff4a..14048bc396 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG
+++ b/CHANGELOG
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@ git-annex (8.20210622) UNRELEASED; urgency=medium
   * Fixed bug that interrupting git-annex repair (or assistant) while
     it was fixing repository corruption would lose objects that were
     contained in pack files.
+  * repair: Fix reversion in version 8.20200522 that prevented fetching
+    missing objects from remotes.
 
  -- Joey Hess <id@joeyh.name>  Mon, 21 Jun 2021 12:25:25 -0400
 
diff --git a/Git/Repair.hs b/Git/Repair.hs
index d52d70ba07..df5608a014 100644
--- a/Git/Repair.hs
+++ b/Git/Repair.hs
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ import Utility.Directory.Create
 import Utility.Tmp.Dir
 import Utility.Rsync
 import Utility.FileMode
+import Utility.CopyFile
 import qualified Utility.RawFilePath as R
 
 import qualified Data.Set as S
@@ -115,7 +116,12 @@ retrieveMissingObjects missing referencerepo r
 	| otherwise = withTmpDir "tmprepo" $ \tmpdir -> do
 		unlessM (boolSystem "git" [Param "init", File tmpdir]) $
 			error $ "failed to create temp repository in " ++ tmpdir
+		let repoconfig r' = fromRawFilePath (localGitDir r' P.</> "config")
 		tmpr <- Config.read =<< Construct.fromPath (toRawFilePath tmpdir)
+		whenM (doesFileExist (repoconfig r)) $
+			void $ copyFileExternal CopyAllMetaData
+				(repoconfig r)
+				(repoconfig tmpr)
 		rs <- Construct.fromRemotes r
 		stillmissing <- pullremotes tmpr rs fetchrefstags missing
 		if S.null (knownMissing stillmissing)