diff --git a/Documentation/config/checkout.txt b/Documentation/config/checkout.txt
index 73380a8d86..c4118fa196 100644
--- a/Documentation/config/checkout.txt
+++ b/Documentation/config/checkout.txt
@@ -21,10 +21,3 @@ checkout.optimizeNewBranch::
 	will not update the skip-worktree bit in the index nor add/remove
 	files in the working directory to reflect the current sparse checkout
 	settings nor will it show the local changes.
-
-checkout.overlayMode::
-	In the default overlay mode, `git checkout` never
-	removes files from the index or the working tree.  When
-	setting `checkout.overlayMode` to false, files that appear in
-	the index and working tree, but not in <tree-ish> are removed,
-	to make them match <tree-ish> exactly.
diff --git a/builtin/checkout.c b/builtin/checkout.c
index b5dfc45736..0c5fe948ef 100644
--- a/builtin/checkout.c
+++ b/builtin/checkout.c
@@ -1019,19 +1019,13 @@ static int switch_branches(const struct checkout_opts *opts,
 
 static int git_checkout_config(const char *var, const char *value, void *cb)
 {
-	struct checkout_opts *opts = cb;
-
 	if (!strcmp(var, "checkout.optimizenewbranch")) {
 		checkout_optimize_new_branch = git_config_bool(var, value);
 		return 0;
 	}
 
-	if (!strcmp(var, "checkout.overlaymode")) {
-		opts->overlay_mode = git_config_bool(var, value);
-		return 0;
-	}
-
 	if (!strcmp(var, "diff.ignoresubmodules")) {
+		struct checkout_opts *opts = cb;
 		handle_ignore_submodules_arg(&opts->diff_options, value);
 		return 0;
 	}
diff --git a/t/t2025-checkout-no-overlay.sh b/t/t2025-checkout-no-overlay.sh
index a4912e35cb..76330cb5ab 100755
--- a/t/t2025-checkout-no-overlay.sh
+++ b/t/t2025-checkout-no-overlay.sh
@@ -44,14 +44,4 @@ test_expect_success '--no-overlay --theirs with D/F conflict deletes file' '
 	test_path_is_missing file1
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'checkout with checkout.overlayMode=false deletes files not in <tree-ish>' '
-	>file &&
-	mkdir dir &&
-	>dir/file1 &&
-	git add file dir/file1 &&
-	git -c checkout.overlayMode=false checkout HEAD -- file &&
-	test_path_is_missing file &&
-	test_path_is_file dir/file1
-'
-
 test_done