diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 8b6e4d85..e35152ae 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -2,7 +2,13 @@
 
 All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file. See [standard-version](https://github.com/conventional-changelog/standard-version) for commit guidelines.
 
-## [Unreleased](https://github.com/motdotla/dotenv/compare/v16.4.4...master)
+## [Unreleased](https://github.com/motdotla/dotenv/compare/v16.4.5...master)
+
+## [16.4.5](https://github.com/motdotla/dotenv/compare/v16.4.4...v16.4.5) (2024-02-19)
+
+### Changed
+
+- 🐞 fix recent regression when using `path` option. return to historical behavior: do not attempt to auto find `.env` if `path` set. (regression was introduced in `16.4.3`) [#814](https://github.com/motdotla/dotenv/pull/814)
 
 ## [16.4.4](https://github.com/motdotla/dotenv/compare/v16.4.3...v16.4.4) (2024-02-13)
 
diff --git a/lib/main.js b/lib/main.js
index 1a99afdf..314f49ad 100644
--- a/lib/main.js
+++ b/lib/main.js
@@ -215,52 +215,48 @@ function configDotenv (options) {
     }
   }
 
-  let optionPathsThatExist = []
+  let optionPaths = [dotenvPath] // default, look for .env
   if (options && options.path) {
     if (!Array.isArray(options.path)) {
-      if (fs.existsSync(options.path)) {
-        optionPathsThatExist = [_resolveHome(options.path)]
-      }
+      optionPaths = [_resolveHome(options.path)]
     } else {
+      optionPaths = [] // reset default
       for (const filepath of options.path) {
-        if (fs.existsSync(filepath)) {
-          optionPathsThatExist.push(_resolveHome(filepath))
-        }
+        optionPaths.push(_resolveHome(filepath))
       }
     }
-
-    if (!optionPathsThatExist.length) {
-      optionPathsThatExist = [dotenvPath]
-    }
   }
 
-  // If we have options.path, and it had valid paths, use them. Else fall back to .env
-  const pathsToProcess = optionPathsThatExist.length ? optionPathsThatExist : [dotenvPath]
-
   // Build the parsed data in a temporary object (because we need to return it).  Once we have the final
   // parsed data, we will combine it with process.env (or options.processEnv if provided).
-
-  const parsed = {}
-  try {
-    for (const path of pathsToProcess) {
+  let lastError
+  const parsedAll = {}
+  for (const path of optionPaths) {
+    try {
       // Specifying an encoding returns a string instead of a buffer
-      const singleFileParsed = DotenvModule.parse(fs.readFileSync(path, { encoding }))
-      DotenvModule.populate(parsed, singleFileParsed, options)
-    }
+      const parsed = DotenvModule.parse(fs.readFileSync(path, { encoding }))
 
-    let processEnv = process.env
-    if (options && options.processEnv != null) {
-      processEnv = options.processEnv
+      DotenvModule.populate(parsedAll, parsed, options)
+    } catch (e) {
+      if (debug) {
+        _debug(`Failed to load ${path} ${e.message}`)
+      }
+      lastError = e
     }
+  }
 
-    DotenvModule.populate(processEnv, parsed, options)
-  } catch (e) {
-    if (debug) {
-      _debug(`Failed to load ${pathsToProcess} ${e.message}`)
-    }
-    return { error: e }
+  let processEnv = process.env
+  if (options && options.processEnv != null) {
+    processEnv = options.processEnv
+  }
+
+  DotenvModule.populate(processEnv, parsedAll, options)
+
+  if (lastError) {
+    return { parsed: parsedAll, error: lastError }
+  } else {
+    return { parsed: parsedAll }
   }
-  return { parsed }
 }
 
 // Populates process.env from .env file
diff --git a/tests/test-config.js b/tests/test-config.js
index a3780a6d..029d29ba 100644
--- a/tests/test-config.js
+++ b/tests/test-config.js
@@ -88,16 +88,12 @@ t.test('takes URL for path option', ct => {
 })
 
 t.test('takes option for path along with home directory char ~', ct => {
-  const existsSyncStub = sinon.stub(fs, 'existsSync').returns(true)
   const readFileSyncStub = sinon.stub(fs, 'readFileSync').returns('test=foo')
   const mockedHomedir = '/Users/dummy'
   const homedirStub = sinon.stub(os, 'homedir').returns(mockedHomedir)
   const testPath = '~/.env'
   dotenv.config({ path: testPath })
 
-  ct.equal(existsSyncStub.args[0][0], testPath)
-  ct.ok(existsSyncStub.called)
-
   ct.equal(readFileSyncStub.args[0][0], path.join(mockedHomedir, '.env'))
   ct.ok(homedirStub.called)