diff --git a/src/ef/Commands/ProjectCommandBase.cs b/src/ef/Commands/ProjectCommandBase.cs
index 4d026c4ccbd..81901d94251 100644
--- a/src/ef/Commands/ProjectCommandBase.cs
+++ b/src/ef/Commands/ProjectCommandBase.cs
@@ -7,6 +7,10 @@
 using Microsoft.DotNet.Cli.CommandLine;
 using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Tools.Properties;
 
+#if NET461
+using System.Configuration;
+#endif
+
 namespace Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Tools.Commands
 {
     internal abstract class ProjectCommandBase : EFCommandBase
@@ -60,6 +64,27 @@ protected IOperationExecutor CreateExecutor()
                 }
                 catch (MissingMethodException) // NB: Thrown with EF Core 3.1
                 {
+                    var configurationFile = (_startupAssembly.Value() ?? _assembly.Value()) + ".config";
+                    if (File.Exists(configurationFile))
+                    {
+                        AppDomain.CurrentDomain.SetData("APP_CONFIG_FILE", configurationFile);
+                        try
+                        {
+                            typeof(ConfigurationManager)
+                                .GetField("s_initState", BindingFlags.Static | BindingFlags.NonPublic)
+                                .SetValue(null, 0);
+                            typeof(ConfigurationManager)
+                                .GetField("s_configSystem", BindingFlags.Static | BindingFlags.NonPublic)
+                                .SetValue(null, null);
+                            typeof(ConfigurationManager).Assembly
+                                .GetType("System.Configuration.ClientConfigPaths")
+                                .GetField("s_current", BindingFlags.Static | BindingFlags.NonPublic)
+                                .SetValue(null, null);
+                        }
+                        catch
+                        {
+                        }
+                    }
                 }
 #elif !NETCOREAPP2_0
 #error target frameworks need to be updated.
diff --git a/src/ef/ef.csproj b/src/ef/ef.csproj
index 9e95985c3b6..26ebe4e7438 100644
--- a/src/ef/ef.csproj
+++ b/src/ef/ef.csproj
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@
 
   <ItemGroup Condition="'$(TargetFramework)' == 'net461'">
     <Reference Include="Microsoft.CSharp" />
+    <Reference Include="System.Configuration" />
   </ItemGroup>
 
   <ItemGroup>