diff --git a/litgpt/scripts/download.py b/litgpt/scripts/download.py
index 14a16b07fb..af911b6b6d 100644
--- a/litgpt/scripts/download.py
+++ b/litgpt/scripts/download.py
@@ -81,6 +81,11 @@ def download_from_hub(
     import huggingface_hub.constants as constants
 
     previous_flag = constants.HF_HUB_ENABLE_HF_TRANSFER # this may be redundant
+    
+    if _HF_TRANSFER_AVAILABLE and not previous_flag:
+         print("Setting HF_HUB_ENABLE_HF_TRANSFER=1")
+         constants.HF_HUB_ENABLE_HF_TRANSFER = True
+         download.HF_HUB_ENABLE_HF_TRANSFER = True
 
     directory = checkpoint_dir / repo_id
     with gated_repo_catcher(repo_id, access_token):