diff --git a/.changelog/unreleased/improvements/2273-pre-gen-wallet.md b/.changelog/unreleased/improvements/2273-pre-gen-wallet.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..0b604f5643
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changelog/unreleased/improvements/2273-pre-gen-wallet.md
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+- Now join-network will try to look for non validator wallet in more places.
+  ([\#2273](https://github.com/anoma/namada/pull/2273))
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/apps/src/lib/client/utils.rs b/apps/src/lib/client/utils.rs
index 1d80f71f23..01e764c0a2 100644
--- a/apps/src/lib/client/utils.rs
+++ b/apps/src/lib/client/utils.rs
@@ -111,11 +111,12 @@ pub async fn join_network(
 
     // Pre-load the validator pre-genesis wallet and its keys to validate that
     // everything is in place before downloading the network archive
-    let validator_alias_and_pre_genesis_wallet =
-        validator_alias_and_dir.map(|(validator_alias, pre_genesis_dir)| {
+    let validator_alias_and_pre_genesis_wallet = validator_alias_and_dir
+        .as_ref()
+        .map(|(validator_alias, pre_genesis_dir)| {
             (
                 alias::Alias::from(validator_alias),
-                pre_genesis::load(&pre_genesis_dir).unwrap_or_else(|err| {
+                pre_genesis::load(pre_genesis_dir).unwrap_or_else(|err| {
                     eprintln!(
                         "Error loading validator pre-genesis wallet {err}",
                     );
@@ -262,7 +263,15 @@ pub async fn join_network(
 
     // Try to load pre-genesis wallet, if any
     let pre_genesis_wallet_path = base_dir.join(PRE_GENESIS_DIR);
-    let pre_genesis_wallet = crate::wallet::load(&pre_genesis_wallet_path);
+    let pre_genesis_wallet =
+        if let Some(wallet) = crate::wallet::load(&pre_genesis_wallet_path) {
+            Some(wallet)
+        } else {
+            validator_alias_and_dir
+                .as_ref()
+                .and_then(|(_, path)| crate::wallet::load(path))
+        };
+
     // Derive wallet from genesis
     let wallet = genesis.derive_wallet(
         &chain_dir,