diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 206dbef2c..473768374 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -14,6 +14,9 @@ project adheres to [Semantic Versioning][SemVer].
   for macOS.
 
 ### Changed
+- The environment variable `ETURNAL_ETC_PREFIX` has been deprecated in favor of
+  `ETURNAL_ETC_DIR`. If the former was used with previous releases,
+  `ETURNAL_ETC_DIR` should now be set to `$ETURNAL_ETC_PREFIX/etc`.
 - `mod_stats_prometheus`: Fine tune bucket sizes for TURN sessions, e.g., drop
   the 1 KiB bucket, as the 4 KiB bucket size should be sufficient to identify
   "inactive" sessions. Also, slightly alter the other bucket sizes.
diff --git a/Formula/eturnal.rb b/Formula/eturnal.rb
index 307f5e4fe..9cdcecd33 100644
--- a/Formula/eturnal.rb
+++ b/Formula/eturnal.rb
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ def install
     end
     ## change default default config dir
     inreplace "config/sys.config" do |s|
-      s.gsub! "$ETURNAL_ETC_PREFIX/etc/#{name}.yml", "#{etc}/#{name}.yml"
+      s.gsub! "$ETURNAL_ETC_DIR/#{name}.yml", "#{etc}/#{name}.yml"
     end
     ## !!! patch eturnalctl script, !!!
     ## !!! remove before updating to newer version than 1.10.1 !!!
diff --git a/build.config b/build.config
index 235df42ff..158ab17d3 100644
--- a/build.config
+++ b/build.config
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 
 {eturnal_user, "eturnal"}.        % The user running eturnal.
 {eturnal_prefix, "/opt/eturnal"}. % The installation directory.
+{eturnal_etc_dir, "/etc"}.        % The directory containing the eturnal.yml.
 {erl_epmd_address, "127.0.0.1"}.  % See <https://erlang.org/doc/man/epmd.html>.
 {erl_dist_port, ""}.      % Specify a port number to avoid spawning EPMD.
 {code_loading, "static"}. % Specify "dynamic" to avoid hard-coded dep versions.
diff --git a/config/sys.config b/config/sys.config
index e331832b6..21b4c8db6 100644
--- a/config/sys.config
+++ b/config/sys.config
@@ -5,5 +5,5 @@
                       #{single_line => false,
                         template => ["[", level, "] ", msg, "\n"]}}}}]}]},
  {conf,
-  [{file, "$ETURNAL_ETC_PREFIX/etc/eturnal.yml"},
+  [{file, "$ETURNAL_ETC_DIR/eturnal.yml"},
    {on_fail, halt}]}].
diff --git a/doc/overview.edoc b/doc/overview.edoc
index d013e6e55..a0af9d67d 100644
--- a/doc/overview.edoc
+++ b/doc/overview.edoc
@@ -93,9 +93,9 @@ The eturnal server is configured by editing the `eturnal.yml' file (and
 optionally setting one or more {@section Environment Variables}). If
 `/etc/eturnal.yml' doesn't exist, eturnal will (by default) search for
 `etc/eturnal.yml' within the installation directory. In order to use a different
-path, the environment variable {@section ETURNAL_ETC_PREFIX} can be specified.
-As an alternative, the arguments ``-conf file '"/path/to/eturnal.yml"''' (note
-the double quoting) can be appended to the `eturnalctl' command line used for <a
+path, the environment variable {@section ETURNAL_ETC_DIR} can be specified. As
+an alternative, the arguments ``-conf file '"/path/to/eturnal.yml"''' (note the
+double quoting) can be appended to the `eturnalctl' command line used for <a
 href="#daemon">starting up</a> eturnal.
 
 The `eturnal.yml' file uses the <a
@@ -626,12 +626,11 @@ Setting this environment variable tells EPMD to listen on the specified port. By
 default, EPMD listens on port 4369. `ERL_EPMD_PORT' must be set to the same port
 number during eturnal startup and when calling `eturnalctl'.
 
-=== ETURNAL_ETC_PREFIX ===
+=== ETURNAL_ETC_DIR ===
 
-This environment variable specifies the path to the `etc' directory containing
-the `eturnal.yml' configuration file. If, for example, `ETURNAL_ETC_PREFIX' is
-set to `/usr/local/opt/eturnal', the file
-`/usr/local/opt/eturnal/etc/eturnal.yml' will be used.
+This environment variable specifies the directory containing the `eturnal.yml'
+configuration file. If, for example, `ETURNAL_ETC_DIR' is set to
+`/usr/local/etc', the file `/usr/local/etc/eturnal.yml' will be used.
 
 === ETURNAL_RELAY_IPV4_ADDR ===
 
diff --git a/docker-k8s/examples/docker-compose/eturnal.env b/docker-k8s/examples/docker-compose/eturnal.env
index 90e597be5..c7e79f0e0 100644
--- a/docker-k8s/examples/docker-compose/eturnal.env
+++ b/docker-k8s/examples/docker-compose/eturnal.env
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 #ERL_DIST_PORT=
 #ERL_EPMD_ADDRESS=127.0.0.1
 #ERL_EPMD_PORT=
-#ETURNAL_ETC_PREFIX=
+#ETURNAL_ETC_DIR=
 #ETURNAL_RELAY_IPV4_ADDR=
 #ETURNAL_RELAY_IPV6_ADDR=
 #ETURNAL_RELAY_MAX_PORT=65535
diff --git a/docker-k8s/examples/kubernetes-kustomize/overlay/dev/configs/variables.env b/docker-k8s/examples/kubernetes-kustomize/overlay/dev/configs/variables.env
index 39ecbf108..4dc5582e0 100644
--- a/docker-k8s/examples/kubernetes-kustomize/overlay/dev/configs/variables.env
+++ b/docker-k8s/examples/kubernetes-kustomize/overlay/dev/configs/variables.env
@@ -2,11 +2,11 @@
 #ERL_DIST_PORT=
 #ERL_EPMD_ADDRESS=127.0.0.1
 #ERL_EPMD_PORT=
-#ETURNAL_ETC_PREFIX=
+#ETURNAL_ETC_DIR=
 #ETURNAL_RELAY_IPV4_ADDR=
 #ETURNAL_RELAY_IPV6_ADDR=
 #ETURNAL_RELAY_MAX_PORT=65535
 #ETURNAL_RELAY_MIN_PORT=49152
 #LOGS_DIRECTORY=
 #RUNTIME_DIRECTORY=
-#STUN_SERVICE=false
\ No newline at end of file
+#STUN_SERVICE=false
diff --git a/scripts/eturnalctl b/scripts/eturnalctl
index 7b0687c55..fc020378f 100755
--- a/scripts/eturnalctl
+++ b/scripts/eturnalctl
@@ -24,10 +24,11 @@ set -u
 
 user="${ETURNAL_USER:-{{eturnal_user}}}"
 prefix="${ETURNAL_PREFIX:-{{eturnal_prefix}}}"
+etc_dir="${ETURNAL_ETC_DIR:-{{eturnal_etc_dir}}}"
 epmd_address="${ERL_EPMD_ADDRESS:-{{erl_epmd_address}}}"
 dist_port="${ERL_DIST_PORT:-{{erl_dist_port}}}"
 code_loading="${CODE_LOADING_MODE:-{{code_loading}}}"
-config_file="${ETURNAL_ETC_PREFIX-}/etc/eturnalctl.cfg"
+config_file="${etc_dir:-/etc}/eturnalctl.cfg"
 
 # END OF CONFIGURATION SECTION.
 
@@ -65,7 +66,7 @@ find_eturnal_yml()
 {
     set -- \
         "$(printf '%s' "$*" | sed -n 's/.*-conf file "\([^"][^"]*\)".*/\1/p')" \
-        "${ETURNAL_ETC_PREFIX-}/etc/eturnal.yml" \
+        "${etc_dir:-/etc}/eturnal.yml" \
         "$release_dir/etc/eturnal.yml" \
         '/dev/null'
 
diff --git a/scripts/hooks/pre_start b/scripts/hooks/pre_start
index bfe2fa28c..c5b88003b 100644
--- a/scripts/hooks/pre_start
+++ b/scripts/hooks/pre_start
@@ -1,6 +1,20 @@
-if ! [ -e "$ETURNAL_ETC_PREFIX/etc/eturnal.yml" ]
+if [ -n "${ETURNAL_ETC_PREFIX+x}" ]
 then
-    export ETURNAL_ETC_PREFIX="$RELEASE_ROOT_DIR"
+    echo "Warning: ETURNAL_ETC_PREFIX is deprecated." >&2
+    echo "Warning: Set ETURNAL_ETC_DIR=$ETURNAL_ETC_PREFIX/etc instead." >&2
+    export ETURNAL_ETC_DIR="$ETURNAL_ETC_PREFIX/etc"
+fi
+
+if ! [ -e "$ETURNAL_ETC_DIR/eturnal.yml" ]
+then
+    for dir in '/etc' "$RELEASE_ROOT_DIR/etc"
+    do
+        if [ -e "$dir/eturnal.yml" ]
+        then
+            export ETURNAL_ETC_DIR="$dir"
+            break
+        fi
+    done
 fi
 
 # Until https://github.com/erlware/relx/issues/905 is fixed:
diff --git a/windows/make-installer b/windows/make-installer
index 27880cccd..d743e9775 100755
--- a/windows/make-installer
+++ b/windows/make-installer
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ grep -q 'mkdir, "log"' 'rebar.config' ||
 sed -i -e '/TLS certificate/,+3d' \
        -e 's|#log_dir.*|log_dir: "@INSTALL_DIR@/log"\
   run_dir: "@INSTALL_DIR@/run"|' 'config/eturnal.yml'
-sed -i 's/$ETURNAL_ETC_PREFIX/@INSTALL_DIR@/' 'config/sys.config'
+sed -i 's|$ETURNAL_ETC_DIR|@INSTALL_DIR@/etc|' 'config/sys.config'
 
 echo "$myself: Cleaning $rel_name repository ..."
 rm -rf '_build'