diff --git a/cmd/utils/flags.go b/cmd/utils/flags.go
index c41cf4ee40..25be9f8d85 100644
--- a/cmd/utils/flags.go
+++ b/cmd/utils/flags.go
@@ -1841,7 +1841,7 @@ func SetEthConfig(ctx *cli.Context, stack *node.Node, cfg *ethconfig.Config) {
 		log.Warn("The flag --txlookuplimit is deprecated and will be removed, please use --history.transactions")
 		cfg.TransactionHistory = ctx.Uint64(TxLookupLimitFlag.Name)
 	}
-	if ctx.String(GCModeFlag.Name) == "archive" {
+	if cfg.NoPruning {
 		if cfg.TransactionHistory != 0 {
 			cfg.TransactionHistory = 0
 			log.Warn("Disabled transaction unindexing for archive node")
@@ -2434,7 +2434,6 @@ func MakeChain(ctx *cli.Context, stack *node.Node, readonly bool) (*core.BlockCh
 		TrieCleanLimit:          ethconfig.Defaults.TrieCleanCache,
 		NoPrefetch:              ctx.Bool(CacheNoPrefetchFlag.Name),
 		TrieDirtyLimit:          ethconfig.Defaults.TrieDirtyCache,
-		ArchiveMode:             ctx.String(GCModeFlag.Name) == "archive",
 		TrieTimeLimit:           ethconfig.Defaults.TrieTimeout,
 		SnapshotLimit:           ethconfig.Defaults.SnapshotCache,
 		Preimages:               ctx.Bool(CachePreimagesFlag.Name),
@@ -2459,6 +2458,9 @@ func MakeChain(ctx *cli.Context, stack *node.Node, readonly bool) (*core.BlockCh
 		// Configure the slow block statistic logger (disabled by default)
 		SlowBlockThreshold: ethconfig.Defaults.SlowBlockThreshold,
 	}
+	if ctx.IsSet(GCModeFlag.Name) {
+		options.ArchiveMode = ctx.String(GCModeFlag.Name) == "archive"
+	}
 	// Only enable slow block logging if the flag was explicitly set
 	if ctx.IsSet(LogSlowBlockFlag.Name) {
 		options.SlowBlockThreshold = ctx.Duration(LogSlowBlockFlag.Name)