diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 77755168edf..80fa88636ca 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -355,6 +355,10 @@ if(NOT EXISTS ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/.config OR NOT "${NUTTX_DEFCONFIG}" STREQUAL
 
   set(ENV{KCONFIG_CONFIG} ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/.config.compressed)
 
+  # Define host before the first olddefconfig so host-dependent defaults, such
+  # as the sim toolchain choice on macOS, resolve the same way as configure.sh.
+  nuttx_sethost(CONFIG_FILE ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/.config.compressed)
+
   # Do olddefconfig step to expand the abbreviated defconfig into normal config
   nuttx_olddefconfig()
 
@@ -379,9 +383,6 @@ if(NOT EXISTS ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/.config OR NOT "${NUTTX_DEFCONFIG}" STREQUAL
   configure_file(${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/.config ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/.config.orig
                  COPYONLY)
 
-  # We define host
-  nuttx_sethost()
-
   set(NUTTX_DEFCONFIG_SAVED
       ${NUTTX_DEFCONFIG}
       CACHE INTERNAL "Saved defconfig path" FORCE)
diff --git a/cmake/nuttx_kconfig.cmake b/cmake/nuttx_kconfig.cmake
index cc55acc9f86..eb5c6eb3268 100644
--- a/cmake/nuttx_kconfig.cmake
+++ b/cmake/nuttx_kconfig.cmake
@@ -231,9 +231,25 @@ function(nuttx_olddefconfig)
 endfunction()
 
 function(nuttx_setconfig)
-  set(ENV{KCONFIG_CONFIG} ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/.config)
+  cmake_parse_arguments(SETCONFIG "" "CONFIG_FILE" "SETTINGS" ${ARGN})
+
+  if(SETCONFIG_UNPARSED_ARGUMENTS)
+    message(
+      FATAL_ERROR
+        "nuttx_setconfig: unknown arguments: ${SETCONFIG_UNPARSED_ARGUMENTS}")
+  endif()
+
+  if(NOT SETCONFIG_SETTINGS)
+    message(FATAL_ERROR "nuttx_setconfig: SETTINGS is required")
+  endif()
+
+  if(NOT SETCONFIG_CONFIG_FILE)
+    set(SETCONFIG_CONFIG_FILE ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/.config)
+  endif()
+
+  set(ENV{KCONFIG_CONFIG} ${SETCONFIG_CONFIG_FILE})
   execute_process(
-    COMMAND setconfig ${ARGN} --kconfig ${NUTTX_DIR}/Kconfig
+    COMMAND setconfig ${SETCONFIG_SETTINGS} --kconfig ${NUTTX_DIR}/Kconfig
     ERROR_VARIABLE KCONFIG_ERROR
     OUTPUT_VARIABLE KCONFIG_OUTPUT
     RESULT_VARIABLE KCONFIG_STATUS
diff --git a/cmake/nuttx_sethost.cmake b/cmake/nuttx_sethost.cmake
index 54788b49fb4..f26399b587b 100644
--- a/cmake/nuttx_sethost.cmake
+++ b/cmake/nuttx_sethost.cmake
@@ -23,6 +23,18 @@
 include(nuttx_kconfig)
 
 function(nuttx_sethost)
+  set(config_file ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/.config)
+  cmake_parse_arguments(SETHOST "" "CONFIG_FILE" "" ${ARGN})
+
+  if(SETHOST_UNPARSED_ARGUMENTS)
+    message(
+      FATAL_ERROR
+        "nuttx_sethost: unknown arguments: ${SETHOST_UNPARSED_ARGUMENTS}")
+  endif()
+
+  if(SETHOST_CONFIG_FILE)
+    set(config_file ${SETHOST_CONFIG_FILE})
+  endif()
 
   if(CMAKE_HOST_WIN32)
     # https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/winprog64/wow64-implementation-details
@@ -104,5 +116,5 @@ function(nuttx_sethost)
     endif()
   endif()
   # message("  nuttx_setconfig: ${NUTTX_SYSTEM_SETHOST}")
-  nuttx_setconfig("${NUTTX_SYSTEM_SETHOST}")
+  nuttx_setconfig(CONFIG_FILE ${config_file} SETTINGS ${NUTTX_SYSTEM_SETHOST})
 endfunction()