diff --git a/cli/cobra.go b/cli/cobra.go
index 1e83a0ef4e..ce4284a0fd 100644
--- a/cli/cobra.go
+++ b/cli/cobra.go
@@ -4,12 +4,21 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"strings"
 
+	cliconfig "github.com/docker/cli/cli/config"
+	cliflags "github.com/docker/cli/cli/flags"
 	"github.com/docker/docker/pkg/term"
 	"github.com/pkg/errors"
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
+	"github.com/spf13/pflag"
 )
 
-func setupCommonRootCommand(rootCmd *cobra.Command) {
+func setupCommonRootCommand(rootCmd *cobra.Command) (*cliflags.ClientOptions, *pflag.FlagSet) {
+	opts := cliflags.NewClientOptions()
+	flags := rootCmd.Flags()
+
+	flags.StringVar(&opts.ConfigDir, "config", cliconfig.Dir(), "Location of client config files")
+	opts.Common.InstallFlags(flags)
+
 	cobra.AddTemplateFunc("hasSubCommands", hasSubCommands)
 	cobra.AddTemplateFunc("hasManagementSubCommands", hasManagementSubCommands)
 	cobra.AddTemplateFunc("operationSubCommands", operationSubCommands)
@@ -20,18 +29,22 @@ func setupCommonRootCommand(rootCmd *cobra.Command) {
 	rootCmd.SetHelpTemplate(helpTemplate)
 	rootCmd.SetFlagErrorFunc(FlagErrorFunc)
 	rootCmd.SetHelpCommand(helpCommand)
+
+	return opts, flags
 }
 
 // SetupRootCommand sets default usage, help, and error handling for the
 // root command.
-func SetupRootCommand(rootCmd *cobra.Command) {
-	setupCommonRootCommand(rootCmd)
+func SetupRootCommand(rootCmd *cobra.Command) (*cliflags.ClientOptions, *pflag.FlagSet) {
+	opts, flags := setupCommonRootCommand(rootCmd)
 
 	rootCmd.SetVersionTemplate("Docker version {{.Version}}\n")
 
 	rootCmd.PersistentFlags().BoolP("help", "h", false, "Print usage")
 	rootCmd.PersistentFlags().MarkShorthandDeprecated("help", "please use --help")
 	rootCmd.PersistentFlags().Lookup("help").Hidden = true
+
+	return opts, flags
 }
 
 // FlagErrorFunc prints an error message which matches the format of the
diff --git a/cmd/docker/docker.go b/cmd/docker/docker.go
index 69d773aa2e..e64fe2afd8 100644
--- a/cmd/docker/docker.go
+++ b/cmd/docker/docker.go
@@ -9,7 +9,6 @@ import (
 	"github.com/docker/cli/cli"
 	"github.com/docker/cli/cli/command"
 	"github.com/docker/cli/cli/command/commands"
-	cliconfig "github.com/docker/cli/cli/config"
 	cliflags "github.com/docker/cli/cli/flags"
 	"github.com/docker/docker/api/types/versions"
 	"github.com/docker/docker/client"
@@ -19,8 +18,10 @@ import (
 )
 
 func newDockerCommand(dockerCli *command.DockerCli) *cobra.Command {
-	opts := cliflags.NewClientOptions()
-	var flags *pflag.FlagSet
+	var (
+		opts  *cliflags.ClientOptions
+		flags *pflag.FlagSet
+	)
 
 	cmd := &cobra.Command{
 		Use:              "docker [OPTIONS] COMMAND [ARG...]",
@@ -43,12 +44,8 @@ func newDockerCommand(dockerCli *command.DockerCli) *cobra.Command {
 		Version:               fmt.Sprintf("%s, build %s", cli.Version, cli.GitCommit),
 		DisableFlagsInUseLine: true,
 	}
-	cli.SetupRootCommand(cmd)
-
-	flags = cmd.Flags()
+	opts, flags = cli.SetupRootCommand(cmd)
 	flags.BoolP("version", "v", false, "Print version information and quit")
-	flags.StringVar(&opts.ConfigDir, "config", cliconfig.Dir(), "Location of client config files")
-	opts.Common.InstallFlags(flags)
 
 	setFlagErrorFunc(dockerCli, cmd, flags, opts)