diff --git a/core/includes/config.inc b/core/includes/config.inc
index c143dd41278a9edee1c4fda7df2d156bf4540458..5b1fe21b0b569409526fe98d7e9f08305aac0f61 100644
--- a/core/includes/config.inc
+++ b/core/includes/config.inc
@@ -12,22 +12,24 @@
  */
 
 /**
- * Installs the default configuration of a given module.
+ * Installs the default configuration of a given extension.
  *
- * @param
- *   The name of the module we are installing.
+ * @param string $type
+ *   The extension type; e.g., 'module' or 'theme'.
+ * @param string $name
+ *   The name of the module or theme to install default configuration for.
  *
  * @todo Make this acknowledge other storage engines rather than having
  *   SQL be hardcoded.
  */
-function config_install_default_config($module) {
-  $module_config_dir = drupal_get_path('module', $module) . '/config';
-  if (is_dir($module_config_dir)) {
-    $source_storage = new FileStorage(array('directory' => $module_config_dir));
+function config_install_default_config($type, $name) {
+  $config_dir = drupal_get_path($type, $name) . '/config';
+  if (is_dir($config_dir)) {
+    $source_storage = new FileStorage(array('directory' => $config_dir));
     $target_storage = new DatabaseStorage();
     $null_storage = new NullStorage();
 
-    // Upon module installation, only new config objects need to be created.
+    // Upon installation, only new config objects need to be created.
     // config_sync_get_changes() would potentially perform a diff of hundreds or
     // even thousands of config objects that happen to be contained in the
     // active store. We leverage the NullStorage to avoid that needless
diff --git a/core/includes/install.inc b/core/includes/install.inc
index 91e10a1d5a42d81d6b8873ccbfa44a20113954ae..c3c91d8c06080615ae5788cb55b84e974dcb401d 100644
--- a/core/includes/install.inc
+++ b/core/includes/install.inc
@@ -387,7 +387,7 @@ function drupal_install_system() {
   system_rebuild_module_data();
   system_rebuild_theme_data();
 
-  config_install_default_config('system');
+  config_install_default_config('module', 'system');
 
   module_invoke('system', 'install');
 }
diff --git a/core/includes/module.inc b/core/includes/module.inc
index 0f0f705a359ce4543a519349b2c9f060290e3552..ab45576b6252a7ce9e544f9757779b80478e6952 100644
--- a/core/includes/module.inc
+++ b/core/includes/module.inc
@@ -462,7 +462,7 @@ function module_enable($module_list, $enable_dependencies = TRUE) {
         $version = $versions ? max($versions) : SCHEMA_INSTALLED;
 
         // Install default configuration of the module.
-        config_install_default_config($module);
+        config_install_default_config('module', $module);
 
         // If the module has no current updates, but has some that were
         // previously removed, set the version to the value of
diff --git a/core/includes/theme.inc b/core/includes/theme.inc
index cf976bf7a73f318df3876dfeb76af934509a4ef8..157dc1880766c226e49a4156392c8fa5fd3eafe8 100644
--- a/core/includes/theme.inc
+++ b/core/includes/theme.inc
@@ -1417,6 +1417,9 @@ function theme_enable($theme_list) {
       ->condition('type', 'theme')
       ->condition('name', $key)
       ->execute();
+
+    // Install default configuration of the theme.
+    config_install_default_config('theme', $key);
   }
 
   list_themes(TRUE);