diff --git a/cmd/nvidia-ctk-installer/container/runtime/crio/crio.go b/cmd/nvidia-ctk-installer/container/runtime/crio/crio.go
index 4cb66dd9d..07750e479 100644
--- a/cmd/nvidia-ctk-installer/container/runtime/crio/crio.go
+++ b/cmd/nvidia-ctk-installer/container/runtime/crio/crio.go
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/NVIDIA/nvidia-container-toolkit/cmd/nvidia-ctk-installer/container"
 	"github.com/NVIDIA/nvidia-container-toolkit/internal/config"
+	"github.com/NVIDIA/nvidia-container-toolkit/internal/logger"
 	"github.com/NVIDIA/nvidia-container-toolkit/pkg/config/engine"
 	"github.com/NVIDIA/nvidia-container-toolkit/pkg/config/engine/crio"
 	"github.com/NVIDIA/nvidia-container-toolkit/pkg/config/ocihook"
@@ -35,7 +36,10 @@ import (
 const (
 	Name = "crio"
 
-	defaultConfigMode = "hook"
+	defaultConfigMode = configModeConfig
+
+	configModeConfig = "config"
+	configModeHook   = "hook"
 
 	// Hook-based settings
 	defaultHooksDir     = "/usr/share/containers/oci/hooks.d"
@@ -88,6 +92,16 @@ func Flags(opts *Options) []cli.Flag {
 	return flags
 }
 
+func (opts *Options) Validate(logger logger.Interface, _ *cli.Command) error {
+	if opts.configMode != configModeConfig && opts.configMode != configModeHook {
+		return fmt.Errorf("invalid cri-o config mode: %q", opts.configMode)
+	}
+	if opts.configMode == configModeHook {
+		logger.Warningf("The %q config for cri-o is deprecated", opts.configMode)
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
 // Setup installs the prestart hook required to launch GPU-enabled containers
 func Setup(c *cli.Command, o *container.Options, co *Options) error {
 	log.Infof("Starting 'setup' for %v", c.Name)
diff --git a/cmd/nvidia-ctk-installer/container/runtime/runtime.go b/cmd/nvidia-ctk-installer/container/runtime/runtime.go
index 57ff91661..2894a3f75 100644
--- a/cmd/nvidia-ctk-installer/container/runtime/runtime.go
+++ b/cmd/nvidia-ctk-installer/container/runtime/runtime.go
@@ -146,6 +146,9 @@ func (opts *Options) Validate(logger logger.Interface, c *cli.Command, runtime s
 		}
 	case containerd.Name:
 	case crio.Name:
+		if err := opts.crioOptions.Validate(logger, c); err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("invalid cri-o config: %w", err)
+		}
 	}
 
 	// Apply the runtime-specific config changes.
diff --git a/cmd/nvidia-ctk/runtime/configure/configure.go b/cmd/nvidia-ctk/runtime/configure/configure.go
index 95620d7ee..05e3a501a 100644
--- a/cmd/nvidia-ctk/runtime/configure/configure.go
+++ b/cmd/nvidia-ctk/runtime/configure/configure.go
@@ -177,13 +177,14 @@ func (m command) build() *cli.Command {
 }
 
 func (m command) validateFlags(config *config) error {
-	if config.mode == "oci-hook" {
+	if config.mode == "oci-hook" || config.mode == "hook" {
+		m.logger.Warningf("The %q config-mode is deprecated", config.mode)
 		if !filepath.IsAbs(config.nvidiaRuntime.hookPath) {
 			return fmt.Errorf("the NVIDIA runtime hook path %q is not an absolute path", config.nvidiaRuntime.hookPath)
 		}
 		return nil
 	}
-	if config.mode != "" && config.mode != "config-file" {
+	if config.mode != "" && config.mode != "config-file" && config.mode != "config" {
 		m.logger.Warningf("Ignoring unsupported config mode for %v: %q", config.runtime, config.mode)
 	}
 	config.mode = "config-file"
@@ -246,9 +247,9 @@ func (m command) validateFlags(config *config) error {
 // configureWrapper updates the specified container engine config to enable the NVIDIA runtime
 func (m command) configureWrapper(config *config) error {
 	switch config.mode {
-	case "oci-hook":
+	case "oci-hook", "hook":
 		return m.configureOCIHook(config)
-	case "config-file":
+	case "config-file", "config":
 		return m.configureConfigFile(config)
 	}
 	return fmt.Errorf("unsupported config-mode: %v", config.mode)