diff --git a/archive.c b/archive.c
index dde1ab4c79f..01751e574bc 100644
--- a/archive.c
+++ b/archive.c
@@ -504,15 +504,11 @@ static int parse_archive_args(int argc, const char **argv,
 }
 
 int write_archive(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix,
-		  int setup_prefix, const char *name_hint, int remote)
+		  const char *name_hint, int remote)
 {
-	int nongit = 0;
 	const struct archiver *ar = NULL;
 	struct archiver_args args;
 
-	if (setup_prefix && prefix == NULL)
-		prefix = setup_git_directory_gently(&nongit);
-
 	git_config_get_bool("uploadarchive.allowunreachable", &remote_allow_unreachable);
 	git_config(git_default_config, NULL);
 
@@ -520,7 +516,7 @@ int write_archive(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix,
 	init_zip_archiver();
 
 	argc = parse_archive_args(argc, argv, &ar, &args, name_hint, remote);
-	if (nongit) {
+	if (!startup_info->have_repository) {
 		/*
 		 * We know this will die() with an error, so we could just
 		 * die ourselves; but its error message will be more specific
diff --git a/archive.h b/archive.h
index 4a791e1fed4..415e0152e2c 100644
--- a/archive.h
+++ b/archive.h
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ typedef int (*write_archive_entry_fn_t)(struct archiver_args *args,
 					unsigned int mode);
 
 extern int write_archive_entries(struct archiver_args *args, write_archive_entry_fn_t write_entry);
-extern int write_archive(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix, int setup_prefix, const char *name_hint, int remote);
+extern int write_archive(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix, const char *name_hint, int remote);
 
 const char *archive_format_from_filename(const char *filename);
 extern void *sha1_file_to_archive(const struct archiver_args *args,
diff --git a/builtin/archive.c b/builtin/archive.c
index 49f491413a1..f863465a0fa 100644
--- a/builtin/archive.c
+++ b/builtin/archive.c
@@ -85,8 +85,8 @@ int cmd_archive(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 	const char *output = NULL;
 	const char *remote = NULL;
 	struct option local_opts[] = {
-		OPT_STRING('o', "output", &output, N_("file"),
-			N_("write the archive to this file")),
+		OPT_FILENAME('o', "output", &output,
+			     N_("write the archive to this file")),
 		OPT_STRING(0, "remote", &remote, N_("repo"),
 			N_("retrieve the archive from remote repository <repo>")),
 		OPT_STRING(0, "exec", &exec, N_("command"),
@@ -105,5 +105,5 @@ int cmd_archive(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 
 	setvbuf(stderr, NULL, _IOLBF, BUFSIZ);
 
-	return write_archive(argc, argv, prefix, 1, output, 0);
+	return write_archive(argc, argv, prefix, output, 0);
 }
diff --git a/builtin/upload-archive.c b/builtin/upload-archive.c
index dc872f6a94c..cde06977b78 100644
--- a/builtin/upload-archive.c
+++ b/builtin/upload-archive.c
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ int cmd_upload_archive_writer(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 	}
 
 	/* parse all options sent by the client */
-	return write_archive(sent_argv.argc, sent_argv.argv, prefix, 0, NULL, 1);
+	return write_archive(sent_argv.argc, sent_argv.argv, prefix, NULL, 1);
 }
 
 __attribute__((format (printf, 1, 2)))
diff --git a/git.c b/git.c
index fd3abf85d21..e8b2baf2d15 100644
--- a/git.c
+++ b/git.c
@@ -396,7 +396,7 @@ static struct cmd_struct commands[] = {
 	{ "am", cmd_am, RUN_SETUP | NEED_WORK_TREE },
 	{ "annotate", cmd_annotate, RUN_SETUP },
 	{ "apply", cmd_apply, RUN_SETUP_GENTLY },
-	{ "archive", cmd_archive },
+	{ "archive", cmd_archive, RUN_SETUP_GENTLY },
 	{ "bisect--helper", cmd_bisect__helper, RUN_SETUP },
 	{ "blame", cmd_blame, RUN_SETUP },
 	{ "branch", cmd_branch, RUN_SETUP },
diff --git a/t/t5000-tar-tree.sh b/t/t5000-tar-tree.sh
index 80b2387341c..830bf2a2f6d 100755
--- a/t/t5000-tar-tree.sh
+++ b/t/t5000-tar-tree.sh
@@ -94,6 +94,20 @@ check_tar() {
 	'
 }
 
+# run "$@" inside a non-git directory
+nongit () {
+	test -d non-repo ||
+	mkdir non-repo ||
+	return 1
+
+	(
+		GIT_CEILING_DIRECTORIES=$(pwd) &&
+		export GIT_CEILING_DIRECTORIES &&
+		cd non-repo &&
+		"$@"
+	)
+}
+
 test_expect_success \
     'populate workdir' \
     'mkdir a &&
@@ -179,6 +193,15 @@ test_expect_success 'git archive --remote' \
     'git archive --remote=. HEAD >b5.tar &&
     test_cmp_bin b.tar b5.tar'
 
+test_expect_success 'git archive --remote with configured remote' '
+	git config remote.foo.url . &&
+	(
+		cd a &&
+		git archive --remote=foo --output=../b5-nick.tar HEAD
+	) &&
+	test_cmp_bin b.tar b5-nick.tar
+'
+
 test_expect_success \
     'validate file modification time' \
     'mkdir extract &&
@@ -197,9 +220,15 @@ test_expect_success 'git archive with --output, override inferred format' '
 	test_cmp_bin b.tar d4.zip
 '
 
-test_expect_success \
-    'git archive --list outside of a git repo' \
-    'GIT_DIR=some/non-existing/directory git archive --list'
+test_expect_success 'git archive --list outside of a git repo' '
+	nongit git archive --list
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'git archive --remote outside of a git repo' '
+	git archive HEAD >expect.tar &&
+	nongit git archive --remote="$PWD" HEAD >actual.tar &&
+	test_cmp_bin expect.tar actual.tar
+'
 
 test_expect_success 'clients cannot access unreachable commits' '
 	test_commit unreachable &&