diff --git a/Modules/main.c b/Modules/main.c
@@ -1291,18 +1291,7 @@ pymain_read_conf(_PyMain *pymain, _PyCoreConfig *config,
    int init_legacy_encoding = Py_LegacyWindowsFSEncodingFlag;
#endif
    _PyCoreConfig save_config = _PyCoreConfig_INIT;
-    char *oldloc = NULL;
    int res = -1;
-
-    oldloc = _PyMem_RawStrdup(setlocale(LC_ALL, NULL));
-    if (oldloc == NULL) {
-        pymain->err = _Py_INIT_NO_MEMORY();
-        goto done;
-    }
-
-    /* Reconfigure the locale to the default for this process */
-    _Py_SetLocaleFromEnv(LC_ALL);
-
    int locale_coerced = 0;
    int loops = 0;

@@ -1311,6 +1300,9 @@ pymain_read_conf(_PyMain *pymain, _PyCoreConfig *config,
        goto done;
    }

    while (1) {
        int utf8_mode = config->utf8_mode;
        int encoding_changed = 0;
@@ -1392,10 +1384,6 @@ pymain_read_conf(_PyMain *pymain, _PyCoreConfig *config,

done:
    _PyCoreConfig_Clear(&save_config);
-    if (oldloc != NULL) {
-        setlocale(LC_ALL, oldloc);
-        PyMem_RawFree(oldloc);
-    }
    Py_UTF8Mode = init_utf8_mode ;
#ifdef MS_WINDOWS
    Py_LegacyWindowsFSEncodingFlag = init_legacy_encoding;