diff --git a/src/lib/config.js b/src/lib/config.js
index 23be2da9a..37d0556e4 100644
--- a/src/lib/config.js
+++ b/src/lib/config.js
@@ -91,9 +91,7 @@ class Config {
     // some weird shell scripts are valid yaml files parsed as string
     assert.equal(typeof(config), 'object', 'CONFIG: it doesn\'t look like a valid config file');
 
-    assert(self.storage, 'CONFIG: storage path not defined');
-
-     // sanity check for strategic config properties
+    // sanity check for strategic config properties
     strategicConfigProps.forEach(function(x) {
       if (self[x] == null) self[x] = {};
       assert(Utils.isObject(self[x]), `CONFIG: bad "${x}" value (object expected)`);
diff --git a/src/lib/local-storage.js b/src/lib/local-storage.js
index 571bf6164..5fec0d698 100644
--- a/src/lib/local-storage.js
+++ b/src/lib/local-storage.js
@@ -842,6 +842,7 @@ class LocalStorage implements IStorage {
     const Storage = this._loadStorePlugin();
 
     if (_.isNil(Storage)) {
+      assert(this.config.storage, 'CONFIG: storage path not defined');
       return new LocalDatabase(this.config, logger);
     } else {
       return Storage;
diff --git a/test/e2e/config/config-protected-e2e.yaml b/test/e2e/config/config-protected-e2e.yaml
index bfd346c73..a9b675913 100644
--- a/test/e2e/config/config-protected-e2e.yaml
+++ b/test/e2e/config/config-protected-e2e.yaml
@@ -1,6 +1,3 @@
-# this is useless yet since we use a custom storage, just ignore it
-storage: ./store-e2e
-
 web:
   enable: true
   title: verdaccio-server-protected-e2e
diff --git a/test/e2e/config/config-scoped-e2e.yaml b/test/e2e/config/config-scoped-e2e.yaml
index 3ac364b15..ea23f6be4 100644
--- a/test/e2e/config/config-scoped-e2e.yaml
+++ b/test/e2e/config/config-scoped-e2e.yaml
@@ -1,6 +1,3 @@
-# this is useless yet since we use a custom storage, just ignore it
-storage: ./store-e2e
-
 web:
   enable: true
   title: verdaccio-server-e2e