diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 4e2be1a85c..fce86072c0 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -84,7 +84,12 @@ if(NOT KCONFIGLIB)
   $ pip install kconfiglib")
 endif()
 
-if(EXISTS ${BOARD_CONFIG} AND EXISTS ${BOARD_CONFIG}/defconfig)
+# BOARD CONFIG can be set to directory path, or <board-name>[/:]<config-name>
+# configuration pair
+
+if((EXISTS ${BOARD_CONFIG} AND EXISTS ${BOARD_CONFIG}/defconfig)
+   OR (EXISTS ${NUTTX_DIR}/${BOARD_CONFIG}
+       AND EXISTS ${NUTTX_DIR}/${BOARD_CONFIG}/defconfig))
   get_filename_component(NUTTX_BOARD_ABS_DIR ${BOARD_CONFIG} ABSOLUTE BASE_DIR
                          ${NUTTX_DIR})
 
@@ -103,7 +108,7 @@ if(EXISTS ${BOARD_CONFIG} AND EXISTS ${BOARD_CONFIG}/defconfig)
 
   string(REGEX REPLACE "(.*)/(.*)/${NUTTX_CONFIG}" "\\1" NUTTX_BOARD_DIR
                        ${NUTTX_BOARD_ABS_DIR})
-  set(NUTTX_DEFCONFIG ${BOARD_CONFIG}/defconfig)
+  set(NUTTX_DEFCONFIG ${NUTTX_BOARD_ABS_DIR}/defconfig)
 else()
   if(BOARD_CONFIG MATCHES "/")
     set(MATCH_REGEX "/")