diff --git a/default-sample.cfg b/default-sample.cfg
index 19908d04..3f04b3a7 100644
--- a/default-sample.cfg
+++ b/default-sample.cfg
@@ -61,6 +61,9 @@ maxprocesses=30
 parallelprocesses=2
 storagetype=file
 
+# Keep old status file for backward compatibility, pywps does not need it.
+keep_status_file=false
+
 # hardcoded default : tempfile.gettempdir()
 #temp_path=/tmp
 
diff --git a/pywps/app/Process.py b/pywps/app/Process.py
index 9cb67ce7..a1051133 100644
--- a/pywps/app/Process.py
+++ b/pywps/app/Process.py
@@ -128,7 +128,8 @@ def from_json(cls, value):
 
     def execute(self, wps_request, uuid):
         self._set_uuid(uuid)
-        self._setup_status_storage()
+        if config.get_config_value('server', 'keep_status_file'):
+            self._setup_status_storage()
         self.async_ = False
         wps_response = WPSExecuteResponse(self, wps_request, self.uuid)
 
diff --git a/pywps/app/WPSExecuteResponse.py b/pywps/app/WPSExecuteResponse.py
index c7ed7e7a..5c44552d 100644
--- a/pywps/app/WPSExecuteResponse.py
+++ b/pywps/app/WPSExecuteResponse.py
@@ -122,9 +122,10 @@ def _update_status(self, status, message, status_percentage, clean=True):
             self.wps_request.preprocess_response = None
 
         LOGGER.debug("_update_status: status={}, clean={}".format(status, clean))
-        self._update_status_doc()
-        if self.store_status_file:
-            self._update_status_file()
+        if config.get_config_value('server', 'keep_status_file'):
+            self._update_status_doc()
+            if self.store_status_file:
+                self._update_status_file()
         if clean:
             if self.status == WPS_STATUS.SUCCEEDED or self.status == WPS_STATUS.FAILED:
                 LOGGER.debug("clean workdir: status={}".format(status))
@@ -232,8 +233,7 @@ def as_json_for_execute_template(self):
         }
 
         if self.store_status_file:
-            if self.process.status_location:
-                data["status_location"] = self.process.status_url
+            data["status_location"] = self.process.status_url
 
         if self.status == WPS_STATUS.ACCEPTED:
             self.message = 'PyWPS Process {} accepted'.format(self.process.identifier)
diff --git a/pywps/configuration.py b/pywps/configuration.py
index ec77e30b..b3ff8ecf 100755
--- a/pywps/configuration.py
+++ b/pywps/configuration.py
@@ -118,6 +118,7 @@ def load_hardcoded_configuration():
     CONFIG.set('server', 'storage_copy_function', 'copy')
     CONFIG.set("server", "default_mimetype", "text/xml")
     CONFIG.set("server", "json_indent", "2")
+    CONFIG.set("server", "keep_status_file", "false")
 
     CONFIG.add_section('processing')
     CONFIG.set('processing', 'mode', 'default')