diff --git a/pkg/setting/setting_plugins.go b/pkg/setting/setting_plugins.go
index baeaca0b393..d6cf55172d5 100644
--- a/pkg/setting/setting_plugins.go
+++ b/pkg/setting/setting_plugins.go
@@ -39,16 +39,19 @@ func (cfg *Cfg) readPluginSettings(iniFile *ini.File) error {
 	cfg.DisablePlugins = util.SplitString(pluginsSection.Key("disable_plugins").MustString(""))
 	cfg.HideAngularDeprecation = util.SplitString(pluginsSection.Key("hide_angular_deprecation").MustString(""))
 	cfg.ForwardHostEnvVars = util.SplitString(pluginsSection.Key("forward_host_env_vars").MustString(""))
-	rawInstallPlugins := util.SplitString(pluginsSection.Key("install").MustString(""))
-	cfg.InstallPlugins = make([]InstallPlugin, len(rawInstallPlugins))
-	for i, plugin := range rawInstallPlugins {
-		parts := strings.Split(plugin, "@")
-		id := parts[0]
-		v := ""
-		if len(parts) == 2 {
-			v = parts[1]
+	disablePreinstall := pluginsSection.Key("disable_preinstall").MustBool(false)
+	if !disablePreinstall {
+		rawInstallPlugins := util.SplitString(pluginsSection.Key("preinstall").MustString(""))
+		cfg.InstallPlugins = make([]InstallPlugin, len(rawInstallPlugins))
+		for i, plugin := range rawInstallPlugins {
+			parts := strings.Split(plugin, "@")
+			id := parts[0]
+			v := ""
+			if len(parts) == 2 {
+				v = parts[1]
+			}
+			cfg.InstallPlugins[i] = InstallPlugin{id, v}
 		}
-		cfg.InstallPlugins[i] = InstallPlugin{id, v}
 	}
 
 	cfg.PluginCatalogURL = pluginsSection.Key("plugin_catalog_url").MustString("https://grafana.com/grafana/plugins/")