diff --git a/VMBackup/main/backuplogger.py b/VMBackup/main/backuplogger.py
index 6f83a1d55..ba577c2e8 100644
--- a/VMBackup/main/backuplogger.py
+++ b/VMBackup/main/backuplogger.py
@@ -32,6 +32,8 @@ def __init__(self, hutil):
         self.enforced_local_flag_value = True
         self.hutil = hutil
         self.prev_log = ''
+        #setting the ConsoleLoggingOff flag to true by default
+        self.console_logging_off = self.hutil.get_intvalue_from_configfile('ConsoleLoggingOff', 0)
         self.logging_off = False
 
     def enforce_local_flag(self, enforced_local):
@@ -68,16 +70,17 @@ def log(self, msg, local=False, level='Info'):
                 self.hutil.log(str(msg),level)
 
     def log_to_con(self, msg):
-        try:
-            with open(self.con_path, "wb") as C :
-                message = "".join(list(filter(lambda x : x in string.printable, msg)))
-                C.write(message.encode('ascii','ignore'))
-        except IOError as e:
-            pass
-        except Exception as e:
-            pass
+        if self.console_logging_off != 0:
+            try:
+                with open(self.con_path, "wb") as C :
+                    message = "".join(list(filter(lambda x : x in string.printable, msg)))
+                    C.write(message.encode('ascii','ignore'))
+            except IOError as e:
+                pass
+            except Exception as e:
+                pass
 
-    def log_to_con_py3(self, msg, level='Info'):
+    def log_to_con_py3(self, msg, level='Info'):       
         log_msg = ""
         try:
             if type(msg) is not str:
@@ -85,8 +88,8 @@ def log_to_con_py3(self, msg, level='Info'):
             time = datetime.datetime.utcnow().strftime(u'%Y/%m/%d %H:%M:%S.%f')
             log_msg = u"{0}  {1}  {2} \n".format(time , level , msg)
             log_msg= str(log_msg.encode('ascii', "backslashreplace"), 
-                         encoding="ascii")
-            if(self.enforced_local_flag_value != False):
+                            encoding="ascii")
+            if(self.enforced_local_flag_value != False and self.console_logging_off != 0):
                 with open(self.con_path, "w") as C :
                     C.write(log_msg)
         except IOError:
diff --git a/VMBackup/main/handle.py b/VMBackup/main/handle.py
index d99adbfe1..7dbd1bd07 100755
--- a/VMBackup/main/handle.py
+++ b/VMBackup/main/handle.py
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ def main():
         total_used_size = 0
         size_calculation_failed = False
         eventlogger = None
-        HandlerUtil.waagent.LoggerInit('/dev/console','/dev/stdout')
+        HandlerUtil.waagent.LoggerInit(None,'/dev/stdout')
         hutil = HandlerUtil.HandlerUtility(HandlerUtil.waagent.Log, HandlerUtil.waagent.Error, CommonVariables.extension_name)
         backup_logger = Backuplogger(hutil)
         MyPatching, patch_class_name, orig_distro = GetMyPatching(backup_logger)