diff --git a/changelog/v1.2.1/make-settings-hook.yaml b/changelog/v1.2.1/make-settings-hook.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..efc6070de49
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog/v1.2.1/make-settings-hook.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+changelog:
+  - type: FIX
+    issueLink: https://github.com/solo-io/gloo/issues/1838
+    description: >
+      The template for the settings resource needs to be a Helm pre-install hook to prevent races during install.
+      The hook annotation was accidentally removed with the `1.2.0` release; this change adds it back.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/install/helm/gloo/templates/18-settings.yaml b/install/helm/gloo/templates/18-settings.yaml
index c989a29af51..e9eec81faa1 100644
--- a/install/helm/gloo/templates/18-settings.yaml
+++ b/install/helm/gloo/templates/18-settings.yaml
@@ -7,6 +7,10 @@ metadata:
     app: gloo
   name: default
   namespace: {{ .Release.Namespace }}
+  # We need this because the Gloo controllers will try to write default settings objects
+  # and if any of them is able to do so before this resource gets applied, installation will fail.
+  annotations:
+    "helm.sh/hook": pre-install
 spec:
   gloo:
     xdsBindAddr: "0.0.0.0:{{ .Values.gloo.deployment.xdsPort }}"
diff --git a/install/test/helm_test.go b/install/test/helm_test.go
index 9bd35dda52a..d160c0e5200 100644
--- a/install/test/helm_test.go
+++ b/install/test/helm_test.go
@@ -702,10 +702,12 @@ spec:
 apiVersion: gloo.solo.io/v1
 kind: Settings
 metadata:
- labels:
-   app: gloo
- name: default
- namespace: ` + namespace + `
+  labels:
+    app: gloo
+  name: default
+  namespace: ` + namespace + `
+  annotations:
+    "helm.sh/hook": pre-install
 spec:
  discovery:
    fdsMode: WHITELIST