diff --git a/LibreNMS/Validations/Python.php b/LibreNMS/Validations/Python.php
index 9997b482d9..815eeb1366 100644
--- a/LibreNMS/Validations/Python.php
+++ b/LibreNMS/Validations/Python.php
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ class Python extends BaseValidation
         $process->run();
 
         if ($process->getExitCode() !== 0) {
-            $user = Config::get('user', 'librenms');
+            $user = \config('librenms.user');
             $user_mismatch = function_exists('posix_getpwuid') ? (posix_getpwuid(posix_geteuid())['name'] ?? null) !== $user : false;
 
             if ($user_mismatch) {
diff --git a/LibreNMS/Validations/User.php b/LibreNMS/Validations/User.php
index 3ac4927ee6..913d1eaf33 100644
--- a/LibreNMS/Validations/User.php
+++ b/LibreNMS/Validations/User.php
@@ -44,8 +44,8 @@ class User extends BaseValidation
     {
         // Check we are running this as the root user
         $username = $validator->getUsername();
-        $lnms_username = Config::get('user', 'librenms');
-        $lnms_groupname = Config::get('group', $lnms_username); // if group isn't set, fall back to user
+        $lnms_username = \config('librenms.user');
+        $lnms_groupname = \config('librenms.group');
 
         if (!($username === 'root' || $username === $lnms_username)) {
             if (isCli()) {
@@ -119,7 +119,7 @@ class User extends BaseValidation
                 }
             }
         } else {
-            $validator->warn("You don't have \$config['user'] set, this most likely needs to be set to librenms");
+            $validator->warn("You don't have LIBRENMS_USER set, this most likely needs to be set to librenms");
         }
     }
 }
diff --git a/LibreNMS/Validator.php b/LibreNMS/Validator.php
index 52af1b5c1a..2a59dad663 100644
--- a/LibreNMS/Validator.php
+++ b/LibreNMS/Validator.php
@@ -252,7 +252,7 @@ class Validator
     public function execAsUser($command, &$output = null, &$code = null)
     {
         if (self::getUsername() === 'root') {
-            $command = 'su ' . Config::get('user') . ' -s /bin/sh -c "' . $command . '"';
+            $command = 'su ' . \config('librenms.user') . ' -s /bin/sh -c "' . $command . '"';
         }
         exec($command, $output, $code);
     }
diff --git a/daily.sh b/daily.sh
index 04f649c8ed..c5365abc7d 100755
--- a/daily.sh
+++ b/daily.sh
@@ -30,7 +30,8 @@ COMPOSER="php ${LIBRENMS_DIR}/scripts/composer_wrapper.php --no-interaction"
 LOG_DIR=$(php -r "@include '${LIBRENMS_DIR}/config.php'; echo isset(\$config['log_dir']) ? \$config['log_dir'] : '${LIBRENMS_DIR}/logs';")
 
 # get the librenms user
-LIBRENMS_USER=$(php -r "@include '${LIBRENMS_DIR}/config.php'; echo isset(\$config['user']) ? \$config['user'] : 'root';")
+source ".env"
+LIBRENMS_USER="${LIBRENMS_USER:-librenms}"
 LIBRENMS_USER_ID=$(id -u "$LIBRENMS_USER")
 
 #######################################
diff --git a/validate.php b/validate.php
index 8a9d5e8b58..e01bcfb551 100755
--- a/validate.php
+++ b/validate.php
@@ -81,30 +81,27 @@ register_shutdown_function(function () {
     }
 });
 
-// critical config.php checks
-if (!file_exists('config.php')) {
-    print_fail('config.php does not exist, please copy config.php.default to config.php');
-    exit;
-}
-
 $pre_checks_failed = false;
-$syntax_check = `php -ln config.php`;
-if (strpos($syntax_check, 'No syntax errors detected') === false) {
-    print_fail('Syntax error in config.php');
-    echo $syntax_check;
-    $pre_checks_failed = true;
-}
 
-$first_line = rtrim(`head -n1 config.php`);
-if (!strpos($first_line, '<?php') === 0) {
-    print_fail("config.php doesn't start with a <?php - please fix this ($first_line)");
-    $pre_checks_failed = true;
-}
-if (strpos(`tail config.php`, '?>') !== false) {
-    print_fail("Remove the ?> at the end of config.php");
-    $pre_checks_failed = true;
-}
+// config.php checks
+if (file_exists('config.php')) {
+    $syntax_check = `php -ln config.php`;
+    if (strpos($syntax_check, 'No syntax errors detected') === false) {
+        print_fail('Syntax error in config.php');
+        echo $syntax_check;
+        $pre_checks_failed = true;
+    }
 
+    $first_line = rtrim(`head -n1 config.php`);
+    if (!strpos($first_line, '<?php') === 0) {
+        print_fail("config.php doesn't start with a <?php - please fix this ($first_line)");
+        $pre_checks_failed = true;
+    }
+    if (strpos(`tail config.php`, '?>') !== false) {
+        print_fail("Remove the ?> at the end of config.php");
+        $pre_checks_failed = true;
+    }
+}
 
 // Composer check
 $validator = new Validator();
@@ -121,7 +118,7 @@ $init_modules = [];
 require 'includes/init.php';
 
 // make sure install_dir is set correctly, or the next includes will fail
-if (!file_exists(Config::get('install_dir').'/config.php')) {
+if (!file_exists(Config::get('install_dir').'/.env')) {
     $suggested = realpath(__DIR__);
     print_fail('\'install_dir\' config setting is not set correctly.', "It should probably be set to: $suggested");
     exit;