diff --git a/Include/internal/pycore_pystate.h b/Include/internal/pycore_pystate.h
index 456dda2e8490830..aee87145f9762d7 100644
--- a/Include/internal/pycore_pystate.h
+++ b/Include/internal/pycore_pystate.h
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ extern "C" {
 #  error "this header requires Py_BUILD_CORE or Py_BUILD_CORE_BUILTIN define"
 #endif
 
+#include "cpython/coreconfig.h"
 #include "pystate.h"
 #include "pythread.h"
 
@@ -220,6 +221,7 @@ typedef struct pyruntimestate {
     struct _ceval_runtime_state ceval;
     struct _gilstate_runtime_state gilstate;
 
+    _PyPreConfig preconfig;
     // XXX Consolidate globals found via the check-c-globals script.
 } _PyRuntimeState;
 
diff --git a/Python/preconfig.c b/Python/preconfig.c
index a86ece57cfced93..0520e4b96b4447e 100644
--- a/Python/preconfig.c
+++ b/Python/preconfig.c
@@ -839,5 +839,15 @@ _PyPreConfig_Write(_PyPreConfig *config)
     /* Set LC_CTYPE to the user preferred locale */
     _Py_SetLocaleFromEnv(LC_CTYPE);
 
+    /* Write the new pre-configuration into _PyRuntime */
+    PyMemAllocatorEx old_alloc;
+    _PyMem_SetDefaultAllocator(PYMEM_DOMAIN_RAW, &old_alloc);
+    int res = _PyPreConfig_Copy(&_PyRuntime.preconfig, config);
+    PyMem_SetAllocator(PYMEM_DOMAIN_RAW, &old_alloc);
+
+    if (res < 0) {
+        return _Py_INIT_NO_MEMORY();
+    }
+
     return _Py_INIT_OK();
 }
diff --git a/Python/pylifecycle.c b/Python/pylifecycle.c
index 0902508429a3e73..15fc55bd7f1f775 100644
--- a/Python/pylifecycle.c
+++ b/Python/pylifecycle.c
@@ -737,6 +737,11 @@ pyinit_coreconfig(_PyCoreConfig *config, const _PyCoreConfig *src_config,
         return _Py_INIT_ERR("failed to copy core config");
     }
 
+    /* Read config written by _PyPreConfig_Write() */
+    if (_PyPreConfig_Copy(&config->preconfig, &_PyRuntime.preconfig) < 0) {
+        return _Py_INIT_NO_MEMORY();
+    }
+
     _PyInitError err = _PyCoreConfig_Read(config, NULL);
     if (_Py_INIT_FAILED(err)) {
         return err;
diff --git a/Python/pystate.c b/Python/pystate.c
index 3978baa7af89d8a..bda075c46be91a5 100644
--- a/Python/pystate.c
+++ b/Python/pystate.c
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ _PyRuntimeState_Init_impl(_PyRuntimeState *runtime)
 
     _PyGC_Initialize(&runtime->gc);
     _PyEval_Initialize(&runtime->ceval);
+    runtime->preconfig = _PyPreConfig_INIT;
 
     runtime->gilstate.check_enabled = 1;
 
@@ -92,6 +93,8 @@ _PyRuntimeState_Fini(_PyRuntimeState *runtime)
         runtime->interpreters.mutex = NULL;
     }
 
+    _PyPreConfig_Clear(&runtime->preconfig);
+
     PyMem_SetAllocator(PYMEM_DOMAIN_RAW, &old_alloc);
 }