diff --git a/init/property_service.cpp b/init/property_service.cpp
index 5884cb6..60c1895 100644
--- a/init/property_service.cpp
+++ b/init/property_service.cpp
@@ -444,7 +444,7 @@
     }
 }
 
-static void load_properties_from_file(const char *, const char *);
+static bool load_properties_from_file(const char *, const char *);
 
 /*
  * Filter is used to decide which properties to load: NULL loads all keys,
@@ -508,16 +508,17 @@
 
 // Filter is used to decide which properties to load: NULL loads all keys,
 // "ro.foo.*" is a prefix match, and "ro.foo.bar" is an exact match.
-static void load_properties_from_file(const char* filename, const char* filter) {
+static bool load_properties_from_file(const char* filename, const char* filter) {
     Timer t;
     std::string data;
     if (!read_file(filename, &data)) {
         PLOG(WARNING) << "Couldn't load properties from " << filename;
-        return;
+        return false;
     }
     data.push_back('\n');
     load_properties(&data[0], filter);
     LOG(VERBOSE) << "(Loading properties from " << filename << " took " << t << ".)";
+    return true;
 }
 
 static void load_persistent_properties() {
@@ -592,7 +593,10 @@
 }
 
 void property_load_boot_defaults() {
-    load_properties_from_file("/default.prop", NULL);
+    if (!load_properties_from_file("/system/etc/prop.default", NULL)) {
+        // legacy path
+        load_properties_from_file("/default.prop", NULL);
+    }
     load_properties_from_file("/odm/default.prop", NULL);
     load_properties_from_file("/vendor/default.prop", NULL);
 
diff --git a/libcutils/fs_config.c b/libcutils/fs_config.c
index d98a923..5b9d174 100644
--- a/libcutils/fs_config.c
+++ b/libcutils/fs_config.c
@@ -135,7 +135,8 @@
     { 00640, AID_ROOT,      AID_SHELL,     0, "data/nativetest64/tests.txt" },
     { 00750, AID_ROOT,      AID_SHELL,     0, "data/nativetest/*" },
     { 00750, AID_ROOT,      AID_SHELL,     0, "data/nativetest64/*" },
-    { 00600, AID_ROOT,      AID_ROOT,      0, "default.prop" },
+    { 00600, AID_ROOT,      AID_ROOT,      0, "default.prop" }, // legacy
+    { 00600, AID_ROOT,      AID_ROOT,      0, "system/etc/prop.default" },
     { 00600, AID_ROOT,      AID_ROOT,      0, "odm/build.prop" },
     { 00600, AID_ROOT,      AID_ROOT,      0, "odm/default.prop" },
     { 00444, AID_ROOT,      AID_ROOT,      0, odm_conf_dir + 1 },