diff --git a/extensions/virtual-threads/deployment/pom.xml b/extensions/virtual-threads/deployment/pom.xml
index c5c58e98b1f7d..23f0afc4dae7c 100644
--- a/extensions/virtual-threads/deployment/pom.xml
+++ b/extensions/virtual-threads/deployment/pom.xml
@@ -43,9 +43,6 @@
                                     <version>${project.version}</version>
                                 </path>
                             </annotationProcessorPaths>
-                            <compilerArgs>
-                                <arg>-AlegacyConfigRoot=true</arg>
-                            </compilerArgs>
                         </configuration>
                     </execution>
                 </executions>
diff --git a/extensions/virtual-threads/runtime/pom.xml b/extensions/virtual-threads/runtime/pom.xml
index d01ec6de6546c..693d72542e6b9 100644
--- a/extensions/virtual-threads/runtime/pom.xml
+++ b/extensions/virtual-threads/runtime/pom.xml
@@ -60,9 +60,6 @@
                                     <version>${project.version}</version>
                                 </path>
                             </annotationProcessorPaths>
-                            <compilerArgs>
-                                <arg>-AlegacyConfigRoot=true</arg>
-                            </compilerArgs>
                         </configuration>
                     </execution>
                 </executions>
diff --git a/extensions/virtual-threads/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/virtual/threads/VirtualThreadsConfig.java b/extensions/virtual-threads/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/virtual/threads/VirtualThreadsConfig.java
index 66ae8c1efba9b..89864537e26fc 100644
--- a/extensions/virtual-threads/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/virtual/threads/VirtualThreadsConfig.java
+++ b/extensions/virtual-threads/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/virtual/threads/VirtualThreadsConfig.java
@@ -3,32 +3,34 @@
 import java.time.Duration;
 import java.util.Optional;
 
-import io.quarkus.runtime.annotations.ConfigItem;
 import io.quarkus.runtime.annotations.ConfigPhase;
 import io.quarkus.runtime.annotations.ConfigRoot;
+import io.smallrye.config.ConfigMapping;
+import io.smallrye.config.WithDefault;
 
+@ConfigMapping(prefix = "quarkus.virtual-threads")
 @ConfigRoot(phase = ConfigPhase.BUILD_AND_RUN_TIME_FIXED)
-public class VirtualThreadsConfig {
+public interface VirtualThreadsConfig {
 
     /**
-     * Virtual thread name prefix. If left blank virtual threads will be unnamed.
+     * Virtual thread name prefix. The name of the virtual thread will be the prefix followed by a unique number.
+     * The default value is "quarkus-virtual-thread-".
      */
-    @ConfigItem(defaultValue = "quarkus-virtual-thread-")
-    Optional<String> namePrefix;
+    @WithDefault("quarkus-virtual-thread-")
+    Optional<String> namePrefix();
 
     /**
      * The shutdown timeout. If all pending work has not been completed by this time
      * then any pending tasks will be interrupted, and the shutdown process will continue
      */
-    @ConfigItem(defaultValue = "1M")
-    public Duration shutdownTimeout;
+    @WithDefault("1M")
+    Duration shutdownTimeout();
 
     /**
      * The frequency at which the status of the executor service should be checked during shutdown.
-     * Setting this key to an empty value disables the shutdown check interval.
      */
-    @ConfigItem(defaultValue = "5s")
-    public Optional<Duration> shutdownCheckInterval;
+    @WithDefault("5s")
+    Duration shutdownCheckInterval();
 
     /**
      * A flag to explicitly disabled virtual threads, even if the JVM support them.
@@ -37,6 +39,6 @@ public class VirtualThreadsConfig {
      * This flag is intended to be used when running with virtual threads become more expensive than plain worker threads,
      * because of pinning, monopolization or thread-based object pool.
      */
-    @ConfigItem(defaultValue = "true")
-    public boolean enabled;
+    @WithDefault("true")
+    boolean enabled();
 }
diff --git a/extensions/virtual-threads/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/virtual/threads/VirtualThreadsRecorder.java b/extensions/virtual-threads/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/virtual/threads/VirtualThreadsRecorder.java
index 46565e8a9eddd..35c90191ec8cd 100644
--- a/extensions/virtual-threads/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/virtual/threads/VirtualThreadsRecorder.java
+++ b/extensions/virtual-threads/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/virtual/threads/VirtualThreadsRecorder.java
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ public class VirtualThreadsRecorder {
 
     private static final Logger logger = Logger.getLogger("io.quarkus.virtual-threads");
 
-    static VirtualThreadsConfig config = new VirtualThreadsConfig();
+    static volatile VirtualThreadsConfig config;
 
     private static volatile ExecutorService current;
     private static final Object lock = new Object();
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ public ExecutorService get() {
 
     public void setupVirtualThreads(VirtualThreadsConfig c, ShutdownContext shutdownContext, LaunchMode launchMode) {
         config = c;
-        if (config.enabled) {
+        if (config.enabled()) {
             if (launchMode == LaunchMode.DEVELOPMENT) {
                 shutdownContext.addLastShutdownTask(new Runnable() {
                     @Override
@@ -55,8 +55,8 @@ public void run() {
                         if (service != null) {
                             service.shutdown();
 
-                            final long timeout = config.shutdownTimeout.toNanos();
-                            final long interval = config.shutdownCheckInterval.orElse(config.shutdownTimeout).toNanos();
+                            final long timeout = config.shutdownTimeout().toNanos();
+                            final long interval = config.shutdownCheckInterval().toNanos();
 
                             long start = System.nanoTime();
                             int loop = 1;
@@ -132,9 +132,9 @@ public void uncaughtException(Thread t, Throwable e) {
      * change --release, --source, --target flags and to enable previews.
      */
     private static ExecutorService createExecutor() {
-        if (config.enabled) {
+        if (config.enabled()) {
             try {
-                String prefix = config.namePrefix.orElse(null);
+                String prefix = config.namePrefix().orElse(null);
                 return new ContextPreservingExecutorService(newVirtualThreadPerTaskExecutorWithName(prefix));
             } catch (InvocationTargetException | IllegalAccessException | NoSuchMethodException | ClassNotFoundException e) {
                 logger.debug("Unable to invoke java.util.concurrent.Executors#newVirtualThreadPerTaskExecutor", e);
diff --git a/extensions/virtual-threads/runtime/src/test/java/io/quarkus/virtual/threads/VirtualThreadExecutorSupplierTest.java b/extensions/virtual-threads/runtime/src/test/java/io/quarkus/virtual/threads/VirtualThreadExecutorSupplierTest.java
index 74b5a49c48fab..6d11ed4a42451 100644
--- a/extensions/virtual-threads/runtime/src/test/java/io/quarkus/virtual/threads/VirtualThreadExecutorSupplierTest.java
+++ b/extensions/virtual-threads/runtime/src/test/java/io/quarkus/virtual/threads/VirtualThreadExecutorSupplierTest.java
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@
 import java.lang.reflect.Method;
 import java.time.Duration;
 import java.util.List;
-import java.util.Optional;
 import java.util.concurrent.Callable;
 import java.util.concurrent.CompletableFuture;
 import java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException;
@@ -19,6 +18,7 @@
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.condition.EnabledForJreRange;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.condition.JRE;
 
+import io.smallrye.config.SmallRyeConfigBuilder;
 import io.smallrye.mutiny.Uni;
 import io.smallrye.mutiny.helpers.test.UniAssertSubscriber;
 import io.vertx.core.Context;
@@ -28,9 +28,10 @@ class VirtualThreadExecutorSupplierTest {
 
     @BeforeEach
     void configRecorder() {
-        VirtualThreadsRecorder.config = new VirtualThreadsConfig();
-        VirtualThreadsRecorder.config.enabled = true;
-        VirtualThreadsRecorder.config.namePrefix = Optional.empty();
+        VirtualThreadsRecorder.config = new SmallRyeConfigBuilder()
+                .addDiscoveredConverters()
+                .withMapping(VirtualThreadsConfig.class)
+                .build().getConfigMapping(VirtualThreadsConfig.class);
     }
 
     @Test