diff --git a/packages/vitest/src/node/plugins/index.ts b/packages/vitest/src/node/plugins/index.ts
index 7f5e055b445c..b1962c4f09c4 100644
--- a/packages/vitest/src/node/plugins/index.ts
+++ b/packages/vitest/src/node/plugins/index.ts
@@ -62,14 +62,19 @@ export async function VitestPlugin(options: UserConfig = {}, ctx = new Vitest())
         )
         options.api = resolveApiConfig(options)
 
-        process.env.BASE_URL ??= viteConfig.base
-        process.env.MODE ??= viteConfig.mode
+        // we replace every "import.meta.env" with "process.env"
+        // to allow reassigning, so we need to put all envs on process.env
+        const { PROD, DEV, ...envs } = viteConfig.env
+
         // process.env can have only string values and will cast string on it if we pass other type,
         // so we are making them truthy
-        process.env.PROD ??= viteConfig.env.PROD ? '1' : ''
-        process.env.DEV ??= viteConfig.env.DEV ? '1' : ''
+        process.env.PROD ??= PROD ? '1' : ''
+        process.env.DEV ??= DEV ? '1' : ''
         process.env.SSR ??= '1'
 
+        for (const name in envs)
+          process.env[name] ??= envs[name]
+
         // account for user env defines
         for (const key in viteConfig.define) {
           if (key.startsWith('import.meta.env.')) {
diff --git a/test/core/.env.local b/test/core/.env.local
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..e47f042f539a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/core/.env.local
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+VITE_TEST_ENV=local
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/core/test/env.test.ts b/test/core/test/env.test.ts
index ec28127c55bc..7557c4930000 100644
--- a/test/core/test/env.test.ts
+++ b/test/core/test/env.test.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,10 @@
 import { expect, test } from 'vitest'
 import { getAuthToken } from '../src/env'
 
+test('reads envs from .env file', () => {
+  expect(import.meta.env.VITE_TEST_ENV).toBe('local')
+})
+
 test('can reassign env locally', () => {
   import.meta.env.VITEST_ENV = 'TEST'
   expect(import.meta.env.VITEST_ENV).toBe('TEST')