diff --git a/bin/config-validator.js b/bin/config-validator.js
index 84116a2eaa5b8914f1080e99594cf344c3861f98..a93d5358fe264c9a37a9393415ef8d3afcdc1aef 100755
--- a/bin/config-validator.js
+++ b/bin/config-validator.js
@@ -8,10 +8,6 @@ const { getConfig } = require('../dist/config/file');
 const cache = require('../dist/workers/global/cache');
 const { configFileNames } = require('../dist/config/app-strings');
 
-// istanbul ignore if
-if (!global.renovateCache) {
-  cache.init(os.tmpdir());
-}
 /* eslint-disable no-console */
 
 let returnVal = 0;
diff --git a/lib/workers/global/cache.ts b/lib/workers/global/cache.ts
index adb242c7f90a5de7c62fb448e1d9900c3a57d697..739f02e5408d4194dad5ce608459a4e7f5e0351a 100644
--- a/lib/workers/global/cache.ts
+++ b/lib/workers/global/cache.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import os from 'os';
 import * as cacache from 'cacache';
 import path from 'path';
 import { DateTime } from 'luxon';
@@ -58,3 +59,5 @@ export function init(cacheDir: string): void {
   logger.debug('Initializing Renovate internal cache into ' + renovateCache);
   global.renovateCache = global.renovateCache || { get, set, rm, rmAll };
 }
+
+init(os.tmpdir()); // Use default temporary dir to begin with
diff --git a/lib/workers/global/index.ts b/lib/workers/global/index.ts
index b449f41d4860c1554fd5703e7287ef3535ca75d1..f0cae6d387998dbc9f7efebbc5b45f69130cc1b4 100644
--- a/lib/workers/global/index.ts
+++ b/lib/workers/global/index.ts
@@ -57,7 +57,6 @@ export async function getRepositoryConfig(
 
 export async function start(): Promise<0 | 1> {
   try {
-    cache.init(os.tmpdir());
     let config = await configParser.parseConfigs(process.env, process.argv);
     config = await initPlatform(config);
     config = await setDirectories(config);