diff --git a/go/cmd/vtcombo/cli/main.go b/go/cmd/vtcombo/cli/main.go
index 5f27e581a24..52e29044268 100644
--- a/go/cmd/vtcombo/cli/main.go
+++ b/go/cmd/vtcombo/cli/main.go
@@ -126,15 +126,6 @@ func init() {
 	// user know about this flag.
 	Main.Flags().MarkHidden("tablet_protocol")
 
-	var err error
-	env, err = vtenv.New(vtenv.Options{
-		MySQLServerVersion: servenv.MySQLServerVersion(),
-		TruncateUILen:      servenv.TruncateUILen,
-		TruncateErrLen:     servenv.TruncateErrLen,
-	})
-	if err != nil {
-		log.Fatalf("unable to initialize env: %v", err)
-	}
 	srvTopoCounts = stats.NewCountersWithSingleLabel("ResilientSrvTopoServer", "Resilient srvtopo server operations", "type")
 }
 
@@ -189,6 +180,15 @@ func run(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) (err error) {
 		cmd.Flags().Set("log_dir", "$VTDATAROOT/tmp")
 	}
 
+	env, err = vtenv.New(vtenv.Options{
+		MySQLServerVersion: servenv.MySQLServerVersion(),
+		TruncateUILen:      servenv.TruncateUILen,
+		TruncateErrLen:     servenv.TruncateErrLen,
+	})
+	if err != nil {
+		log.Fatalf("unable to initialize env: %v", err)
+	}
+
 	ctx, cancel := context.WithCancel(cmd.Context())
 	defer cancel()
 	if externalTopoServer {
diff --git a/go/cmd/vtctldclient/command/root.go b/go/cmd/vtctldclient/command/root.go
index 2a65a59f606..4b16ab71462 100644
--- a/go/cmd/vtctldclient/command/root.go
+++ b/go/cmd/vtctldclient/command/root.go
@@ -29,7 +29,6 @@ import (
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
 
 	"vitess.io/vitess/go/trace"
-	"vitess.io/vitess/go/vt/log"
 	"vitess.io/vitess/go/vt/logutil"
 	"vitess.io/vitess/go/vt/servenv"
 	"vitess.io/vitess/go/vt/topo"
@@ -105,6 +104,15 @@ connect directly to the topo server(s).`, useInternalVtctld),
 		// We use PersistentPreRun to set up the tracer, grpc client, and
 		// command context for every command.
 		PersistentPreRunE: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) (err error) {
+			env, err = vtenv.New(vtenv.Options{
+				MySQLServerVersion: servenv.MySQLServerVersion(),
+				TruncateUILen:      servenv.TruncateUILen,
+				TruncateErrLen:     servenv.TruncateErrLen,
+			})
+			if err != nil {
+				return fmt.Errorf("failed to initialize vtenv: %w", err)
+			}
+
 			logutil.PurgeLogs()
 			traceCloser = trace.StartTracing("vtctldclient")
 			client, err = getClientForCommand(cmd)
@@ -118,6 +126,7 @@ connect directly to the topo server(s).`, useInternalVtctld),
 			}
 			vreplcommon.SetClient(client)
 			vreplcommon.SetCommandCtx(commandCtx)
+
 			return err
 		},
 		// Similarly, PersistentPostRun cleans up the resources spawned by
@@ -220,14 +229,4 @@ func init() {
 	Root.PersistentFlags().StringSliceVar(&topoOptions.globalServerAddresses, "topo-global-server-address", topoOptions.globalServerAddresses, "the address of the global topology server(s)")
 	Root.PersistentFlags().StringVar(&topoOptions.globalRoot, "topo-global-root", topoOptions.globalRoot, "the path of the global topology data in the global topology server")
 	vreplcommon.RegisterCommands(Root)
-
-	var err error
-	env, err = vtenv.New(vtenv.Options{
-		MySQLServerVersion: servenv.MySQLServerVersion(),
-		TruncateUILen:      servenv.TruncateUILen,
-		TruncateErrLen:     servenv.TruncateErrLen,
-	})
-	if err != nil {
-		log.Fatalf("failed to initialize vtenv: %v", err)
-	}
 }