diff --git a/core/includes/config.inc b/core/includes/config.inc
index c89537d..d240df4 100644
--- a/core/includes/config.inc
+++ b/core/includes/config.inc
@@ -177,8 +177,10 @@ function config_sync_get_changes(StorageInterface $source_storage, StorageInterf
  *   The storage to synchronize configuration from.
  * @param Drupal\Core\Config\StorageInterface $target_storage
  *   The storage to synchronize configuration to.
+ * @param bool $delete_source = FALSE
+ *   Whether or not to delete the source item.
  */
-function config_sync_changes(array $config_changes, StorageInterface $source_storage, StorageInterface $target_storage) {
+function config_sync_changes(array $config_changes, StorageInterface $source_storage, StorageInterface $target_storage, $delete_source = FALSE) {
   $factory = drupal_container()->get('config.factory');
   foreach (array('delete', 'create', 'change') as $op) {
     foreach ($config_changes[$op] as $name) {
@@ -190,6 +192,11 @@ function config_sync_changes(array $config_changes, StorageInterface $source_sto
         $data = $source_storage->read($name);
         $config->setData($data ? $data : array());
         $config->save();
+        // if required, we can now delete the source, as the target has
+        // been saved
+        if ($delete_source) {
+          $source_storage->delete($name);
+        }
       }
       $factory->reset($name);
     }
@@ -199,11 +206,14 @@ function config_sync_changes(array $config_changes, StorageInterface $source_sto
 /**
  * Imports configuration into the active configuration.
  *
+ * @param bool $delete_source = FALSE
+ *   Whether or not to delete the source item.
+ *
  * @return bool|null
  *   TRUE if configuration was imported successfully, FALSE in case of a
  *   synchronization error, or NULL if there are no changes to synchronize.
  */
-function config_import() {
+function config_import($delete_source = FALSE) {
   // Retrieve a list of differences between staging and the active configuration.
   $source_storage = drupal_container()->get('config.storage.staging');
   $target_storage = drupal_container()->get('config.storage');
@@ -225,7 +235,7 @@ function config_import() {
   $success = TRUE;
   try {
     $remaining_changes = config_import_invoke_owner($config_changes, $source_storage, $target_storage);
-    config_sync_changes($remaining_changes, $source_storage, $target_storage);
+    config_sync_changes($remaining_changes, $source_storage, $target_storage, $delete_source);
   }
   catch (ConfigException $e) {
     watchdog_exception('config_import', $e);
diff --git a/core/modules/config/config.admin.inc b/core/modules/config/config.admin.inc
index 4a6f953..fff6149 100644
--- a/core/modules/config/config.admin.inc
+++ b/core/modules/config/config.admin.inc
@@ -99,18 +99,18 @@ function config_admin_import_form_submit($form, &$form_state) {
   if (!lock()->lockMayBeAvailable(CONFIG_IMPORT_LOCK)) {
     drupal_set_message(t('Another request may be synchronizing configuration already.'));
   }
-  else if (config_import()) {
+  else if (config_import(TRUE)) {
     // Once a sync completes, we empty the staging directory. This prevents
     // changes from being accidentally overwritten by stray files getting
     // imported later.
     $source_storage = drupal_container()->get('config.storage.staging');
-    foreach ($source_storage->listAll() as $name) {
-      $source_storage->delete($name);
+    if (count($source_storage->listAll())) {
+      drupal_set_message(t('The configuration was imported successfully, but certain files were left in the staging directory, as they could were not handled.'));
+    }
+    else {
+      drupal_set_message(t('The configuration was imported successfully.'));
     }
-
     drupal_flush_all_caches();
-
-    drupal_set_message(t('The configuration was imported successfully.'));
   }
   else {
     drupal_set_message(t('The import failed due to an error. Any errors have been logged.'), 'error');