diff --git a/pkg/config/runtime.go b/pkg/config/runtime.go
index 7bcfded69e9c..0f8ed1aef3da 100644
--- a/pkg/config/runtime.go
+++ b/pkg/config/runtime.go
@@ -17,13 +17,10 @@ limitations under the License.
 package config
 
 import (
-	"bufio"
-	"bytes"
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
-	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/k0sproject/k0s/internal/pkg/dir"
 	"github.com/k0sproject/k0s/pkg/apis/k0s/v1beta1"
@@ -68,12 +65,6 @@ func LoadRuntimeConfig(k0sVars *CfgVars) (*RuntimeConfigSpec, error) {
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
-	// "migrate" old runtime config to allow running commands on a new binary while an old version is still running.
-	// the legacy runtime config gets deleted when the server running on the old binary is stopped.
-	if isLegacy(content) {
-		return migrateLegacyRuntimeConfig(k0sVars, content)
-	}
-
 	config := &RuntimeConfig{}
 	if err := yaml.Unmarshal(content, config); err != nil {
 		return nil, err
@@ -106,36 +97,6 @@ func LoadRuntimeConfig(k0sVars *CfgVars) (*RuntimeConfigSpec, error) {
 	return spec, nil
 }
 
-func migrateLegacyRuntimeConfig(k0sVars *CfgVars, content []byte) (*RuntimeConfigSpec, error) {
-	cfg := &v1beta1.ClusterConfig{}
-
-	if err := yaml.Unmarshal(content, cfg); err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to unmarshal legacy runtime config: %w", err)
-	}
-
-	// generate a new runtime config
-	return &RuntimeConfigSpec{K0sVars: k0sVars, NodeConfig: cfg, Pid: os.Getpid()}, nil
-}
-
-func isLegacy(data []byte) bool {
-	scanner := bufio.NewScanner(bytes.NewReader(data))
-
-	for scanner.Scan() {
-		line := scanner.Text()
-
-		if strings.HasPrefix(line, "kind:") {
-			value := strings.TrimSpace(strings.TrimPrefix(line, "kind:"))
-			return value != RuntimeConfigKind
-		}
-	}
-
-	if err := scanner.Err(); err != nil {
-		fmt.Fprintln(os.Stderr, "error scanning runtime config:", err)
-	}
-
-	return false
-}
-
 func NewRuntimeConfig(k0sVars *CfgVars) (*RuntimeConfigSpec, error) {
 	if _, err := LoadRuntimeConfig(k0sVars); err == nil {
 		return nil, ErrK0sAlreadyRunning
diff --git a/pkg/config/runtime_test.go b/pkg/config/runtime_test.go
index 0e57882e5870..aaeda0c02fb4 100644
--- a/pkg/config/runtime_test.go
+++ b/pkg/config/runtime_test.go
@@ -24,38 +24,6 @@ import (
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
 )
 
-func TestLoadRuntimeConfig_Legacy(t *testing.T) {
-	tmpfile, err := os.CreateTemp("", "runtime-config")
-	assert.NoError(t, err)
-	defer os.Remove(tmpfile.Name())
-
-	// prepare k0sVars
-	k0sVars := &CfgVars{
-		DataDir:           "/var/lib/k0s-custom",
-		RuntimeConfigPath: tmpfile.Name(),
-	}
-
-	content := []byte(`apiVersion: k0s.k0sproject.io/v1beta1
-kind: ClusterConfig
-metadata:
-  name: k0s
-spec:
-  api:
-    address: 10.2.3.4
-`)
-	err = os.WriteFile(k0sVars.RuntimeConfigPath, content, 0644)
-	assert.NoError(t, err)
-
-	spec, err := LoadRuntimeConfig(k0sVars)
-	assert.NoError(t, err)
-	assert.NotNil(t, spec)
-	assert.Equal(t, "/var/lib/k0s-custom", spec.K0sVars.DataDir)
-	assert.Equal(t, os.Getpid(), spec.Pid)
-	assert.NotNil(t, spec.NodeConfig)
-	assert.NotNil(t, spec.NodeConfig.Spec.API)
-	assert.Equal(t, "10.2.3.4", spec.NodeConfig.Spec.API.Address)
-}
-
 func TestLoadRuntimeConfig_K0sNotRunning(t *testing.T) {
 	// create a temporary file for runtime config
 	tmpfile, err := os.CreateTemp("", "runtime-config")