diff --git a/dCommon/dConfig.cpp b/dCommon/dConfig.cpp
index 9ff8a9bcb..cc1a4b8a4 100644
--- a/dCommon/dConfig.cpp
+++ b/dCommon/dConfig.cpp
@@ -128,11 +128,19 @@ void dConfig::SetDatabaseSync(std::function<void(dConfig&)> sync) {
 void dConfig::ProcessLine(const std::string& line, const std::string& file, const std::string& description) {
 	auto splitLoc = line.find('=');
 	if (splitLoc == std::string::npos) return;
-	auto key = line.substr(0, splitLoc);
-	auto value = line.substr(splitLoc + 1);
-
-	//Make sure that on Linux, we remove special characters:
-	if (!value.empty() && value.at(value.size() - 1) == '\r') value.erase(value.size() - 1);
+	// Stray spaces around keys and values (for example "client_location = ../client ") are a
+	// common setup mistake that otherwise surfaces as an unrelated error much later, so drop them.
+	// This also removes the \r left at the end of lines of a file saved with Windows line endings.
+	const auto trim = [](std::string_view str) {
+		constexpr std::string_view whitespace = " \t\r\n";
+		const auto start = str.find_first_not_of(whitespace);
+		if (start == std::string_view::npos) return std::string{};
+		const auto end = str.find_last_not_of(whitespace);
+		return std::string{ str.substr(start, end - start + 1) };
+	};
+	const auto key = trim(std::string_view(line).substr(0, splitLoc));
+	const auto value = trim(std::string_view(line).substr(splitLoc + 1));
+	if (key.empty()) return;
 
 	if (this->m_ConfigValues.find(key) != this->m_ConfigValues.end()) return;
 
diff --git a/tests/dCommonTests/ConfigLayerTests.cpp b/tests/dCommonTests/ConfigLayerTests.cpp
index dd8ebffb3..5610d44fc 100644
--- a/tests/dCommonTests/ConfigLayerTests.cpp
+++ b/tests/dCommonTests/ConfigLayerTests.cpp
@@ -4,6 +4,10 @@
 
 #include "dConfig.h"
 #include "ConfigSync.h"
+#include "BinaryPathFinder.h"
+
+#include <filesystem>
+#include <fstream>
 
 namespace {
 	void SetEnv(const char* name, const char* value) {
@@ -111,3 +115,24 @@ TEST(ConfigLayerTests, OwnedValuesComeFromTheOwner) {
 	EXPECT_EQ(config.GetValue("permission_accounts_ban"), "6");
 	EXPECT_EQ(config.GetValue("permission_players_view"), "2");
 }
+
+TEST(ConfigLayerTests, WhitespaceAroundKeysAndValuesIsIgnored) {
+	const auto path = BinaryPathFinder::GetBinaryDir() / "whitespace_test_config.ini";
+	{
+		std::ofstream out(path, std::ios::binary);
+		out << "zz_plain=value\n";
+		out << "zz_spaced = spaced value \r\n";
+		out << "\tzz_tabbed\t=\tx\t\n";
+		out << " = no key\n";
+		out << "zz_empty=   \n";
+	}
+
+	dConfig config("whitespace_test_config.ini");
+	EXPECT_EQ(config.GetValue("zz_plain"), "value");
+	EXPECT_EQ(config.GetValue("zz_spaced"), "spaced value"); // inner spaces are kept
+	EXPECT_EQ(config.GetValue("zz_tabbed"), "x");
+	EXPECT_EQ(config.GetValue("zz_empty"), "");
+	EXPECT_EQ(config.GetValue(""), "");
+
+	std::filesystem::remove(path);
+}