diff --git a/CHANGELOG.adoc b/CHANGELOG.adoc
index 2c3bfa2ff..312ffd311 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.adoc
+++ b/CHANGELOG.adoc
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ This file documents all notable changes to https://github.com/devonfw/IDEasy[IDE
 
 Release with new features and bugfixes:
 
+* https://github.com/devonfw/IDEasy/issues/1270[#1270]: IDEasy now loads global user settings if outside a project
 * https://github.com/devonfw/IDEasy/issues/1552[#1552]: Add Commandlet to fix TLS issue
 * https://github.com/devonfw/IDEasy/issues/1799[#1799]: Add support for file URL in GitUrl validation for local development
 * https://github.com/devonfw/IDEasy/issues/1760[#1760]: Accept empty input for single option
diff --git a/cli/src/main/java/com/devonfw/tools/ide/commandlet/EnvironmentCommandlet.java b/cli/src/main/java/com/devonfw/tools/ide/commandlet/EnvironmentCommandlet.java
index 7a1df72be..3a2f98f12 100644
--- a/cli/src/main/java/com/devonfw/tools/ide/commandlet/EnvironmentCommandlet.java
+++ b/cli/src/main/java/com/devonfw/tools/ide/commandlet/EnvironmentCommandlet.java
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 package com.devonfw.tools.ide.commandlet;
 
+import java.nio.file.Path;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
@@ -8,7 +9,6 @@
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
-import com.devonfw.tools.ide.cli.CliExitException;
 import com.devonfw.tools.ide.context.AbstractIdeContext;
 import com.devonfw.tools.ide.context.IdeContext;
 import com.devonfw.tools.ide.environment.EnvironmentVariablesType;
@@ -65,9 +65,6 @@ public boolean isProcessableOutput() {
 
   @Override
   protected void doRun() {
-    if (this.context.getIdeHome() == null) {
-      throw new CliExitException();
-    }
 
     boolean winCmd = false;
     WindowsPathSyntax pathSyntax = null;
@@ -84,9 +81,12 @@ protected void doRun() {
     List<VariableLine> variables = this.context.getVariables().collectVariables();
     Map<String, VariableLine> variableMap = variables.stream().collect(Collectors.toMap(VariableLine::getName, v -> v));
 
-    EnvironmentVariableCollectorContext environmentVariableCollectorContext = new EnvironmentVariableCollectorContext(variableMap,
-        new VariableSource(EnvironmentVariablesType.TOOL, this.context.getSoftwarePath()), pathSyntax);
-    setEnvironmentVariablesInLocalTools(environmentVariableCollectorContext);
+    Path softwarePath = this.context.getSoftwarePath();
+    if (softwarePath != null) {
+      EnvironmentVariableCollectorContext environmentVariableCollectorContext = new EnvironmentVariableCollectorContext(variableMap,
+          new VariableSource(EnvironmentVariablesType.TOOL, softwarePath), pathSyntax);
+      setEnvironmentVariablesInLocalTools(environmentVariableCollectorContext);
+    }
 
     printLines(variableMap, winCmd);
   }
diff --git a/cli/src/main/java/com/devonfw/tools/ide/context/AbstractIdeContext.java b/cli/src/main/java/com/devonfw/tools/ide/context/AbstractIdeContext.java
index 58198ec6b..dba4ec6e0 100644
--- a/cli/src/main/java/com/devonfw/tools/ide/context/AbstractIdeContext.java
+++ b/cli/src/main/java/com/devonfw/tools/ide/context/AbstractIdeContext.java
@@ -601,6 +601,9 @@ public Path getUserHome() {
   protected void setUserHome(Path userHome) {
 
     this.userHome = userHome;
+    this.userHomeIde = userHome.resolve(FOLDER_DOT_IDE);
+    this.downloadPath = userHome.resolve("Downloads/ide");
+    this.variables = null;
     resetPrivacyMap();
   }
 
diff --git a/cli/src/test/java/com/devonfw/tools/ide/commandlet/EnvironmentCommandletGlobalTest.java b/cli/src/test/java/com/devonfw/tools/ide/commandlet/EnvironmentCommandletGlobalTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..082c0cd9d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cli/src/test/java/com/devonfw/tools/ide/commandlet/EnvironmentCommandletGlobalTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+package com.devonfw.tools.ide.commandlet;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.nio.file.Files;
+import java.nio.file.Path;
+
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.io.TempDir;
+
+import com.devonfw.tools.ide.context.AbstractIdeContextTest;
+import com.devonfw.tools.ide.context.IdeTestContext;
+import com.devonfw.tools.ide.log.IdeLogEntry;
+
+/**
+ * Test of {@link EnvironmentCommandlet} for global configuration.
+ */
+class EnvironmentCommandletGlobalTest extends AbstractIdeContextTest {
+
+  @Test
+  void testRunOutsideProject(@TempDir Path tempDir) throws IOException {
+
+    // arrange
+    Path userHome = tempDir.resolve("user");
+    Path userHomeIde = userHome.resolve(".ide");
+    Files.createDirectories(userHomeIde);
+    Files.writeString(userHomeIde.resolve("ide.properties"), "export FOO=bar\n");
+
+    IdeTestContext context = new IdeTestContext(tempDir.resolve("cwd"), null);
+    context.setUserHome(userHome);
+
+    EnvironmentCommandlet env = context.getCommandletManager().getCommandlet(EnvironmentCommandlet.class);
+
+    // act
+    env.run();
+
+    // assert
+    assertThat(context).log().hasEntries( //
+        IdeLogEntry.ofProcessable("export FOO=\"bar\"") //
+    );
+  }
+}