diff --git a/cmd/containerd/command/config.go b/cmd/containerd/command/config.go
index abd8cea1ed81..2e6d7fce0fb5 100644
--- a/cmd/containerd/command/config.go
+++ b/cmd/containerd/command/config.go
@@ -138,6 +138,7 @@ func platformAgnosticDefaultConfig() *srvconfig.Config {
 		DisabledPlugins:  []string{},
 		RequiredPlugins:  []string{},
 		StreamProcessors: streamProcessors(),
+		Imports:          []string{defaults.DefaultConfigIncludePattern},
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/defaults/defaults_unix.go b/defaults/defaults_unix.go
index 41d00b943d2e..387d1f3eb289 100644
--- a/defaults/defaults_unix.go
+++ b/defaults/defaults_unix.go
@@ -24,4 +24,7 @@ const (
 	// DefaultRootDir is the default location used by containerd to store
 	// persistent data
 	DefaultRootDir = "/var/lib/containerd"
+
+	// DefaultConfigIncludePattern is the default location for drop-in confiugration files.
+	DefaultConfigIncludePattern = "/etc/containerd/conf.d/*.toml"
 )
diff --git a/defaults/defaults_windows.go b/defaults/defaults_windows.go
index 9f01c8fb8837..50dab53428d9 100644
--- a/defaults/defaults_windows.go
+++ b/defaults/defaults_windows.go
@@ -31,6 +31,9 @@ var (
 
 	// DefaultConfigDir is the default location for config files.
 	DefaultConfigDir = filepath.Join(os.Getenv("programfiles"), "containerd")
+
+	// DefaultConfigIncludePattern is the default location for drop-in confiugration files.
+	DefaultConfigIncludePattern = filepath.Join(os.Getenv("programfiles"), "containerd\\conf.d\\*.toml")
 )
 
 const (