diff --git a/builtin/verify-pack.c b/builtin/verify-pack.c
index 011dddd2dc3292..5b663905aea3d9 100644
--- a/builtin/verify-pack.c
+++ b/builtin/verify-pack.c
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 #include "builtin.h"
 #include "config.h"
 #include "gettext.h"
+#include "hash.h"
 #include "run-command.h"
 #include "parse-options.h"
 #include "strbuf.h"
@@ -77,6 +78,9 @@ int cmd_verify_pack(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 		OPT_END()
 	};
 
+	if (!the_hash_algo)
+		repo_set_hash_algo(the_repository, GIT_HASH_SHA1);
+
 	git_config(git_default_config, NULL);
 	argc = parse_options(argc, argv, prefix, verify_pack_options,
 			     verify_pack_usage, 0);
diff --git a/t/t5300-pack-object.sh b/t/t5300-pack-object.sh
index 4ad023c846d06a..d6f45d89234748 100755
--- a/t/t5300-pack-object.sh
+++ b/t/t5300-pack-object.sh
@@ -322,6 +322,10 @@ test_expect_success 'verify-pack catches a corrupted sum of the index file itsel
 	fi
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'verify-pack outside a repository' '
+	nongit git verify-pack -v "$(pwd)/test-1-${packname_1}.idx"
+'
+
 test_expect_success 'build pack index for an existing pack' '
 	cat test-1-${packname_1}.pack >test-3.pack &&
 	git index-pack -o tmp.idx test-3.pack &&