diff --git a/BRANCH_TODO b/BRANCH_TODO
index 62631e6a5..cdf50d48a 100644
--- a/BRANCH_TODO
+++ b/BRANCH_TODO
@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
 This is a TODO file for only this branch (config-overhaul)
 
 * Config validation
+* What happens if a configured box doesn't exist?
 * Separation of global vs VM configuration.
 # Put VM-specific config directly into Vagrant::VM objects
 * Only allow one kind of vagrantfile to be loaded (i.e. if both
   Vagrantfile and vagrantfile exist, throw an error)
-* Nicer error if can't setup home directory
\ No newline at end of file
+* Nicer error if can't setup home directory
diff --git a/lib/vagrant/environment.rb b/lib/vagrant/environment.rb
index 4c94fadf3..b003a717e 100644
--- a/lib/vagrant/environment.rb
+++ b/lib/vagrant/environment.rb
@@ -162,13 +162,6 @@ module Vagrant
       @_boxes ||= BoxCollection.new(self)
     end
 
-    # Returns the box that this environment represents.
-    #
-    # @return [Box]
-    def box
-      boxes.find(config.vm.box)
-    end
-
     # Returns the VMs associated with this environment.
     #
     # @return [Hash<Symbol,VM>]
@@ -458,7 +451,7 @@ module Vagrant
         config = inner_load[subvm]
 
         # Second pass, with the box
-        config = inner_load[subvm, config.vm.box]
+        config = inner_load[subvm, boxes.find(config.vm.box)]
         config.vm.name = vm_name.to_s
 
         # Return the final configuration for this VM
diff --git a/test/unit/support/isolated_environment.rb b/test/unit/support/isolated_environment.rb
index c3a302561..61e85e102 100644
--- a/test/unit/support/isolated_environment.rb
+++ b/test/unit/support/isolated_environment.rb
@@ -43,10 +43,23 @@ module Unit
       Vagrant::Environment.new(:cwd => @workdir, :home_path => @homedir)
     end
 
-    def vagrantfile(contents)
-      @workdir.join("Vagrantfile").open("w+") do |f|
+    def vagrantfile(contents, root=nil)
+      root ||= @workdir
+      root.join("Vagrantfile").open("w+") do |f|
         f.write(contents)
       end
     end
+
+    def box(name, vagrantfile_contents)
+      box_dir = boxes_dir.join(name)
+      box_dir.mkdir
+      vagrantfile(vagrantfile_contents, box_dir)
+    end
+
+    def boxes_dir
+      dir = @homedir.join("boxes")
+      dir.mkdir
+      dir
+    end
   end
 end
diff --git a/test/unit/vagrant/environment_test.rb b/test/unit/vagrant/environment_test.rb
index 7b0f0b7a1..8a4049232 100644
--- a/test/unit/vagrant/environment_test.rb
+++ b/test/unit/vagrant/environment_test.rb
@@ -84,6 +84,25 @@ VF
       env.config.for_vm("foo").ssh.port.should == 100
       env.config.for_vm("bar").ssh.port.should == 200
     end
+
+    it "should load box configuration" do
+      environment = isolated_environment do |env|
+        env.vagrantfile(<<-VF)
+Vagrant::Config.run do |config|
+  config.vm.box = "base"
+end
+VF
+
+        env.box("base", <<-VF)
+Vagrant::Config.run do |config|
+  config.ssh.port = 100
+end
+VF
+      end
+
+      env = environment.create_vagrant_env
+      env.config.for_vm("default").ssh.port.should == 100
+    end
   end
 
   describe "ui" do
diff --git a/test/unit_legacy/vagrant/environment_test.rb b/test/unit_legacy/vagrant/environment_test.rb
index 6e944839e..189972597 100644
--- a/test/unit_legacy/vagrant/environment_test.rb
+++ b/test/unit_legacy/vagrant/environment_test.rb
@@ -372,18 +372,6 @@ class EnvironmentTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
     end
   end
 
-  context "accessing the current box" do
-    should "return the box that is specified in the config" do
-      vagrant_box("foo")
-      env = vagrant_env(vagrantfile(<<-vf))
-        config.vm.box = "foo"
-      vf
-
-      assert env.box
-      assert_equal "foo", env.box.name
-    end
-  end
-
   context "accessing the VMs hash" do
     should "load the environment if its not already loaded" do
       env = @klass.new(:cwd => vagrantfile)