diff --git a/src/useradd.c b/src/useradd.c
index fefa234c..6c43e7e3 100644
--- a/src/useradd.c
+++ b/src/useradd.c
@@ -2027,6 +2027,8 @@ int main (int argc, char **argv)
 	is_shadow_grp = sgr_file_present ();
 #endif
 
+	get_defaults ();
+
 	process_flags (argc, argv);
 
 #ifdef ENABLE_SUBIDS
@@ -2036,8 +2038,6 @@ int main (int argc, char **argv)
 	    (!user_id || (user_id <= uid_max && user_id >= uid_min));
 #endif				/* ENABLE_SUBIDS */
 
-	get_defaults ();
-
 #ifdef ACCT_TOOLS_SETUID
 #ifdef USE_PAM
 	{