diff --git a/release/scripts/startup/bl_operators/userpref.py b/release/scripts/startup/bl_operators/userpref.py
index 4c5c269955a..4cb6ddd3fa3 100644
--- a/release/scripts/startup/bl_operators/userpref.py
+++ b/release/scripts/startup/bl_operators/userpref.py
@@ -49,6 +49,44 @@ def module_filesystem_remove(path_base, module_name):
             else:
                 os.remove(f_full)
 
+# This duplicates shutil.copytree from Python 3.8, with the new dirs_exist_ok
+# argument that we need. Once we upgrade to 3.8 we can remove this.
+def _preferences_copytree(entries, src, dst):
+    import shutil
+    import os
+    os.makedirs(dst, exist_ok=True)
+    errors = []
+
+    for srcentry in entries:
+        srcname = os.path.join(src, srcentry.name)
+        dstname = os.path.join(dst, srcentry.name)
+        srcobj = srcentry
+        try:
+            if srcentry.is_symlink():
+                linkto = os.readlink(srcname)
+                os.symlink(linkto, dstname)
+                shutil.copystat(srcobj, dstname, follow_symlinks=False)
+            elif srcentry.is_dir():
+                preferences_copytree(srcobj, dstname)
+            else:
+                shutil.copy2(srcentry, dstname)
+        except Error as err:
+            errors.extend(err.args[0])
+        except OSError as why:
+            errors.append((srcname, dstname, str(why)))
+    try:
+        shutil.copystat(src, dst)
+    except OSError as why:
+        if getattr(why, 'winerror', None) is None:
+            errors.append((src, dst, str(why)))
+    if errors:
+        raise Error(errors)
+    return dst
+
+def preferences_copytree(src, dst):
+    import os
+    with os.scandir(src) as entries:
+        return _preferences_copytree(entries=entries, src=src, dst=dst)
 
 class PREFERENCES_OT_keyconfig_activate(Operator):
     bl_idname = "preferences.keyconfig_activate"
@@ -110,9 +148,10 @@ class PREFERENCES_OT_copy_prev(Operator):
         return os.path.isfile(old_userpref) and not os.path.isfile(new_userpref)
 
     def execute(self, _context):
-        import shutil
-
-        shutil.copytree(self._old_path(), self._new_path(), symlinks=True)
+        # Use this instead once we upgrade to Python 3.8 with dirs_exist_ok.
+        # import shutil
+        # shutil.copytree(self._old_path(), self._new_path(), dirs_exist_ok=True)
+        preferences_copytree(self._old_path(), self._new_path())
 
         # reload preferences and recent-files.txt
         bpy.ops.wm.read_userpref()