diff --git a/cmd/container_runtime/crio.go b/cmd/container_runtime/crio.go
index f355663..f946416 100644
--- a/cmd/container_runtime/crio.go
+++ b/cmd/container_runtime/crio.go
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ func init() {
 }
 
 func NewCrioCommand() *cobra.Command {
-	var defaultZotConfig *registry.DefaultZotConfig
+	var defaultZotConfig registry.DefaultZotConfig
 	var generateConfig bool
 	var crioConfigPath string
 
@@ -46,15 +46,14 @@ func NewCrioCommand() *cobra.Command {
 		Use:   "crio",
 		Short: "Creates the config file for the crio runtime to fetch the images from the local repository",
 		PersistentPreRunE: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
-			return SetupContainerRuntimeCommand(cmd, defaultZotConfig, DefaultCrioGenPath)
+			return SetupContainerRuntimeCommand(cmd, &defaultZotConfig, DefaultCrioGenPath)
 		},
 		RunE: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
 			log := logger.FromContext(cmd.Context())
 			if generateConfig {
 				log.Info().Msg("Generating the config file for crio ...")
 				log.Info().Msgf("Fetching crio registry config file form path: %s", crioConfigPath)
-				// Generate the config file
-				err := GenerateCrioRegistryConfig(defaultZotConfig, crioConfigPath, log)
+				err := GenerateCrioRegistryConfig(&defaultZotConfig, crioConfigPath, log)
 				if err != nil {
 					log.Err(err).Msg("Error generating crio registry config")
 					return err
@@ -163,7 +162,7 @@ func SetupContainerRuntimeCommand(cmd *cobra.Command, defaultZotConfig *registry
 		defaultZotConfig.RemoteURL = config.GetRemoteRegistryURL()
 	} else {
 		log.Info().Msg("Using default registry for config generation")
-		defaultZotConfig, err = registry.ReadConfig(config.GetZotConfigPath())
+		err = registry.ReadConfig(config.GetZotConfigPath(), defaultZotConfig)
 		if err != nil || defaultZotConfig == nil {
 			return fmt.Errorf("could not read config: %w", err)
 		}
diff --git a/internal/utils/utils.go b/internal/utils/utils.go
index 0ff9453..0439572 100644
--- a/internal/utils/utils.go
+++ b/internal/utils/utils.go
@@ -50,7 +50,8 @@ func HandleOwnRegistry() error {
 
 // LaunchDefaultZotRegistry launches the default Zot registry using the Zot config path
 func LaunchDefaultZotRegistry() error {
-	defaultZotConfig, err := registry.ReadConfig(config.GetZotConfigPath())
+	var defaultZotConfig registry.DefaultZotConfig
+	err := registry.ReadConfig(config.GetZotConfigPath(), &defaultZotConfig)
 	if err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("error reading config: %w", err)
 	}
diff --git a/registry/default_config.go b/registry/default_config.go
index dc25f82..2c9684e 100644
--- a/registry/default_config.go
+++ b/registry/default_config.go
@@ -32,26 +32,25 @@ func (c *DefaultZotConfig) GetLocalRegistryURL() string {
 }
 
 // ReadConfig reads a JSON file from the specified path and unmarshals it into a Config struct.
-func ReadConfig(filePath string) (*DefaultZotConfig, error) {
+func ReadConfig(filePath string, zotConfig *DefaultZotConfig) (error) {
 	file, err := os.Open(filePath)
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("could not open file: %w", err)
+		return fmt.Errorf("could not open file: %w", err)
 	}
 	defer file.Close()
 
 	// Read the file contents
 	bytes, err := io.ReadAll(file)
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("could not read file: %w", err)
+		return fmt.Errorf("could not read file: %w", err)
 	}
 
 	// Unmarshal the JSON into a Config struct
-	var config DefaultZotConfig
-	err = json.Unmarshal(bytes, &config)
+	err = json.Unmarshal(bytes, &zotConfig)
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("could not unmarshal JSON: %w", err)
+		return fmt.Errorf("could not unmarshal JSON: %w", err)
 	}
-	return &config, nil
+	return nil
 }
 
 func (c *DefaultZotConfig) SetZotRemoteURL(url string) {