diff --git a/builtin/check-attr.c b/builtin/check-attr.c
index 075d01d30c58d40abb48ff820ba6f8d310f785d0..f29d6c33e90455a3e3c0d7d5f6316570f4f64c78 100644
--- a/builtin/check-attr.c
+++ b/builtin/check-attr.c
@@ -94,6 +94,9 @@ int cmd_check_attr(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 	struct git_attr_check *check;
 	int cnt, i, doubledash, filei;
 
+	if (!is_bare_repository())
+		setup_work_tree();
+
 	git_config(git_default_config, NULL);
 
 	argc = parse_options(argc, argv, prefix, check_attr_options,
diff --git a/t/t0003-attributes.sh b/t/t0003-attributes.sh
index 0554b130f299fd52676361cc9608b469ec382829..6e6aef598836b6405006390aac5c5f11901de54d 100755
--- a/t/t0003-attributes.sh
+++ b/t/t0003-attributes.sh
@@ -196,6 +196,16 @@ test_expect_success 'root subdir attribute test' '
 	attr_check subdir/a/i unspecified
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'using --git-dir and --work-tree' '
+	mkdir unreal real &&
+	git init real &&
+	echo "file test=in-real" >real/.gitattributes &&
+	(
+		cd unreal &&
+		attr_check file in-real "--git-dir ../real/.git --work-tree ../real"
+	)
+'
+
 test_expect_success 'setup bare' '
 	git clone --bare . bare.git
 '