diff --git a/cmd/dcrctl/config.go b/cmd/dcrctl/config.go
index 45e52094..34863d6d 100644
--- a/cmd/dcrctl/config.go
+++ b/cmd/dcrctl/config.go
@@ -176,20 +176,13 @@ func loadConfig() (*config, []string, error) {
 		RPCCert:    defaultRPCCertFile,
 	}
 
-	// Create the home directory if it doesn't already exist.
-	err := os.MkdirAll(dcrdHomeDir, 0700)
-	if err != nil {
-		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "%v\n", err)
-		os.Exit(-1)
-	}
-
 	// Pre-parse the command line options to see if an alternative config
 	// file, the version flag, or the list commands flag was specified.  Any
 	// errors aside from the help message error can be ignored here since
 	// they will be caught by the final parse below.
 	preCfg := cfg
 	preParser := flags.NewParser(&preCfg, flags.HelpFlag)
-	_, err = preParser.Parse()
+	_, err := preParser.Parse()
 	if err != nil {
 		if e, ok := err.(*flags.Error); ok && e.Type == flags.ErrHelp {
 			fmt.Fprintln(os.Stderr, err)