diff --git oak-core/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/plugins/index/IndexUpdate.java oak-core/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/plugins/index/IndexUpdate.java
index 29b7af9..c7b889a 100644
--- oak-core/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/plugins/index/IndexUpdate.java
+++ oak-core/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/plugins/index/IndexUpdate.java
@@ -352,7 +352,7 @@ public class IndexUpdate implements Editor {
          * method will throw a {@link CommitFailedException} failing the commit.
          */
         private boolean failOnMissingIndexProvider = Boolean
-                .getBoolean("oak.indexUpdate.failOnMissingIndexProvider");
+                .parseBoolean(System.getProperty("oak.indexUpdate.failOnMissingIndexProvider", "true"));
 
         private final Set<String> ignore = newHashSet("disabled");
 
diff --git oak-core/src/test/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/plugins/index/IndexUpdateTest.java oak-core/src/test/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/plugins/index/IndexUpdateTest.java
index 8c80a1f..8dc58f9 100644
--- oak-core/src/test/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/plugins/index/IndexUpdateTest.java
+++ oak-core/src/test/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/plugins/index/IndexUpdateTest.java
@@ -405,7 +405,6 @@ public class IndexUpdateTest {
             }
         };
         final MissingIndexProviderStrategy mips = new MissingIndexProviderStrategy();
-        mips.setFailOnMissingIndexProvider(true);
 
         EditorHook hook = new EditorHook(new EditorProvider() {
             @Override