diff --git a/src/universal/bin/sbt b/src/universal/bin/sbt
index 6b927348f..3109a3e2a 100755
--- a/src/universal/bin/sbt
+++ b/src/universal/bin/sbt
@@ -63,7 +63,8 @@ cygwinpath() {
 
 declare -r noshare_opts="-Dsbt.global.base=project/.sbtboot -Dsbt.boot.directory=project/.boot -Dsbt.ivy.home=project/.ivy"
 declare -r sbt_opts_file=".sbtopts"
-declare -r etc_sbt_opts_file="${sbt_home}/conf/sbtopts"
+declare -r etc_sbt_opts_file="/etc/sbt/sbtopts"
+declare -r dist_sbt_opts_file="${sbt_home}/conf/sbtopts"
 declare -r win_sbt_opts_file="${sbt_home}/conf/sbtconfig.txt"
 
 usage() {
@@ -141,6 +142,9 @@ loadConfigFile() {
   done
 }
 
+# Here we pull in the default settings configuration.
+[[ -f "$dist_sbt_opts_file" ]] && set -- $(loadConfigFile "$dist_sbt_opts_file") "$@"
+
 # Here we pull in the global settings configuration.
 [[ -f "$etc_sbt_opts_file" ]] && set -- $(loadConfigFile "$etc_sbt_opts_file") "$@"