diff --git a/besu/src/main/java/org/hyperledger/besu/cli/util/TomlConfigurationDefaultProvider.java b/besu/src/main/java/org/hyperledger/besu/cli/util/TomlConfigurationDefaultProvider.java
index a346e260d13..1747f461dc4 100644
--- a/besu/src/main/java/org/hyperledger/besu/cli/util/TomlConfigurationDefaultProvider.java
+++ b/besu/src/main/java/org/hyperledger/besu/cli/util/TomlConfigurationDefaultProvider.java
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@ public class TomlConfigurationDefaultProvider implements IDefaultValueProvider {
   private final CommandLine commandLine;
   private final InputStream configurationInputStream;
   private TomlParseResult result;
+  private boolean isUnknownOptionsChecked;
 
   /**
    * Instantiates a new Toml config file default value provider.
@@ -230,6 +231,11 @@ private void checkConfigurationValidity() {
       throw new ParameterException(
           commandLine,
           String.format("Unable to read TOML configuration file %s", configurationInputStream));
+
+    if (!isUnknownOptionsChecked && !commandLine.isUnmatchedArgumentsAllowed()) {
+      checkUnknownOptions(result);
+      isUnknownOptionsChecked = true;
+    }
   }
 
   /** Load configuration from file. */
@@ -249,8 +255,6 @@ public void loadConfigurationFromFile() {
               commandLine, String.format("Invalid TOML configuration: %s", errors));
         }
 
-        checkUnknownOptions(result);
-
         this.result = result;
 
       } catch (final IOException e) {