diff --git a/main/src/main/scala/sbt/Main.scala b/main/src/main/scala/sbt/Main.scala
index 54c8c180a..558814c05 100644
--- a/main/src/main/scala/sbt/Main.scala
+++ b/main/src/main/scala/sbt/Main.scala
@@ -52,7 +52,8 @@ final class xMain extends xsbti.AppMain {
       import BasicCommandStrings.runEarly
       import BuiltinCommands.defaults
       import sbt.internal.CommandStrings.{ BootCommand, DefaultsCommand, InitCommand }
-      setSbtVersion(configuration.baseDirectory(), configuration.provider().id().version())
+      if (!java.lang.Boolean.getBoolean("sbt.skip.version.write"))
+        setSbtVersion(configuration.baseDirectory(), configuration.provider().id().version())
       runManaged(initialState(
         configuration,
         Seq(defaults, early),