diff --git a/builtin/fetch.c b/builtin/fetch.c
index b5788c16bf..3347d578ea 100644
--- a/builtin/fetch.c
+++ b/builtin/fetch.c
@@ -1790,9 +1790,6 @@ int cmd_fetch(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 	if (depth || deepen_since || deepen_not.nr)
 		deepen = 1;
 
-	if (filter_options.choice && !has_promisor_remote())
-		die("--filter can only be used when extensions.partialClone is set");
-
 	if (all) {
 		if (argc == 1)
 			die(_("fetch --all does not take a repository argument"));
diff --git a/t/t0410-partial-clone.sh b/t/t0410-partial-clone.sh
index a3988bd4b8..16ad000382 100755
--- a/t/t0410-partial-clone.sh
+++ b/t/t0410-partial-clone.sh
@@ -30,6 +30,18 @@ test_expect_success 'extensions.partialclone without filter' '
 	git -C client fetch origin
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'convert shallow clone to partial clone' '
+	rm -fr server client &&
+	test_create_repo server &&
+	test_commit -C server my_commit 1 &&
+	test_commit -C server my_commit2 1 &&
+	git clone --depth=1 "file://$(pwd)/server" client &&
+	git -C client fetch --unshallow --filter="blob:none" &&
+	test_cmp_config -C client true remote.origin.promisor &&
+	test_cmp_config -C client blob:none remote.origin.partialclonefilter &&
+	test_cmp_config -C client 1 core.repositoryformatversion
+'
+
 test_expect_success 'missing reflog object, but promised by a commit, passes fsck' '
 	rm -rf repo &&
 	test_create_repo repo &&
diff --git a/t/t1090-sparse-checkout-scope.sh b/t/t1090-sparse-checkout-scope.sh
index 40cc004326..f35a73dd20 100755
--- a/t/t1090-sparse-checkout-scope.sh
+++ b/t/t1090-sparse-checkout-scope.sh
@@ -63,7 +63,6 @@ test_expect_success 'in partial clone, sparse checkout only fetches needed blobs
 	git -C server commit -m message &&
 
 	test_config -C client core.sparsecheckout 1 &&
-	test_config -C client extensions.partialclone origin &&
 	echo "!/*" >client/.git/info/sparse-checkout &&
 	echo "/a" >>client/.git/info/sparse-checkout &&
 	git -C client fetch --filter=blob:none origin &&
diff --git a/t/t5500-fetch-pack.sh b/t/t5500-fetch-pack.sh
index 8c54e34ef1..0f5ff25179 100755
--- a/t/t5500-fetch-pack.sh
+++ b/t/t5500-fetch-pack.sh
@@ -999,7 +999,6 @@ fetch_filter_blob_limit_zero () {
 	test_config -C "$SERVER" uploadpack.allowfilter 1 &&
 
 	git clone "$URL" client &&
-	test_config -C client extensions.partialclone origin &&
 
 	test_commit -C "$SERVER" two &&
 
diff --git a/t/t5702-protocol-v2.sh b/t/t5702-protocol-v2.sh
index 5039e66dc4..8b27fad6cd 100755
--- a/t/t5702-protocol-v2.sh
+++ b/t/t5702-protocol-v2.sh
@@ -348,7 +348,6 @@ test_expect_success 'partial fetch' '
 	rm -rf client "$(pwd)/trace" &&
 	git init client &&
 	SERVER="file://$(pwd)/server" &&
-	test_config -C client extensions.partialClone "$SERVER" &&
 
 	GIT_TRACE_PACKET="$(pwd)/trace" git -C client -c protocol.version=2 \
 		fetch --filter=blob:none "$SERVER" master:refs/heads/other &&