diff --git a/reframe/frontend/cli.py b/reframe/frontend/cli.py
index 4ea291c630..0ed0edde5b 100644
--- a/reframe/frontend/cli.py
+++ b/reframe/frontend/cli.py
@@ -615,7 +615,6 @@ def main():
         )
 
     rt = runtime.runtime()
-    autodetect.detect_topology()
     try:
         if site_config.get('general/0/module_map_file'):
             rt.modules_system.load_mapping_from_file(
@@ -674,6 +673,7 @@ def main():
 
         sys.exit(0)
 
+    autodetect.detect_topology()
     printer.debug(format_env(options.env_vars))
 
     # Setup the check loader