diff --git a/roles/ansible-server/templates/ansible.cfg.j2 b/roles/ansible-server/templates/ansible.cfg.j2
index d197372ffe..031b495866 100644
--- a/roles/ansible-server/templates/ansible.cfg.j2
+++ b/roles/ansible-server/templates/ansible.cfg.j2
@@ -415,7 +415,7 @@ pipelining = True
 #   * scp   = use scp to transfer files
 #   * piped = use 'dd' over SSH to transfer files
 #   * smart = try sftp, scp, and piped, in that order [default]
-#transfer_method = smart
+transfer_method = scp,piped,sftp
 
 # if False, sftp will not use batch mode to transfer files. This may cause some
 # types of file transfer failures impossible to catch however, and should