diff --git a/pytorch_lightning/callbacks/base.py b/pytorch_lightning/callbacks/base.py
index a24fef72e5b36..017d447c94702 100644
--- a/pytorch_lightning/callbacks/base.py
+++ b/pytorch_lightning/callbacks/base.py
@@ -325,3 +325,6 @@ def on_before_optimizer_step(
 
     def on_before_zero_grad(self, trainer: "pl.Trainer", pl_module: "pl.LightningModule", optimizer: Optimizer) -> None:
         """Called before ``optimizer.zero_grad()``."""
+
+    def _on_before_launch(self, trainer: "pl.Trainer", pl_module: "pl.LightningModule") -> None:
+        """For internal use."""
diff --git a/pytorch_lightning/trainer/trainer.py b/pytorch_lightning/trainer/trainer.py
index 6ed5d6c31f719..26c61e0f885da 100644
--- a/pytorch_lightning/trainer/trainer.py
+++ b/pytorch_lightning/trainer/trainer.py
@@ -670,6 +670,9 @@ def _call_and_handle_interrupt(self, trainer_fn: Callable, *args: Any, **kwargs:
         """
         try:
             if self.strategy.launcher is not None:
+                # used in the CLI's `SaveConfigCallback` so that it still works with DDP spawn
+                self._call_callback_hooks("_on_before_launch")
+
                 return self.strategy.launcher.launch(trainer_fn, *args, trainer=self, **kwargs)
             else:
                 return trainer_fn(*args, **kwargs)
diff --git a/pytorch_lightning/utilities/cli.py b/pytorch_lightning/utilities/cli.py
index a9c06febbb9b4..517c8d3146b76 100644
--- a/pytorch_lightning/utilities/cli.py
+++ b/pytorch_lightning/utilities/cli.py
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
 
 import pytorch_lightning as pl
 from pytorch_lightning import Callback, LightningDataModule, LightningModule, seed_everything, Trainer
+from pytorch_lightning.strategies import DDPSpawnStrategy
 from pytorch_lightning.utilities.cloud_io import get_filesystem
 from pytorch_lightning.utilities.exceptions import MisconfigurationException
 from pytorch_lightning.utilities.imports import _JSONARGPARSE_AVAILABLE
@@ -414,9 +415,7 @@ def __init__(
         self.overwrite = overwrite
         self.multifile = multifile
 
-    def setup(self, trainer: Trainer, pl_module: LightningModule, stage: Optional[str] = None) -> None:
-        # save the config in `setup` because (1) we want it to save regardless of the trainer function run
-        # and we want to save before processes are spawned
+    def save(self, trainer: "pl.Trainer") -> None:
         log_dir = trainer.log_dir  # this broadcasts the directory
         assert log_dir is not None
         config_path = os.path.join(log_dir, self.config_filename)
@@ -445,9 +444,22 @@ def setup(self, trainer: Trainer, pl_module: LightningModule, stage: Optional[st
                 self.config, config_path, skip_none=False, overwrite=self.overwrite, multifile=self.multifile
             )
 
+    def _on_before_launch(self, trainer: "pl.Trainer", *_: Any) -> None:
+        if isinstance(trainer.strategy, DDPSpawnStrategy):
+            self.save(trainer)
+
+    def setup(self, trainer: Trainer, pl_module: LightningModule, stage: Optional[str] = None) -> None:
+        if not isinstance(trainer.strategy, DDPSpawnStrategy):
+            self.save(trainer)
+
     def __reduce__(self) -> Tuple[Type["SaveConfigCallback"], Tuple, Dict]:
-        # `ArgumentParser` is un-pickleable. Drop it
-        return self.__class__, (None, self.config, self.config_filename), {}
+        # `ArgumentParser` is un-pickleable. Since we will be dropping it when DDP spawn is used, DDP spawn needs to
+        # save the config file before this is called, and for this, we use an internal hook `on_before_launch`.
+        return (
+            self.__class__,
+            (None, self.config, self.config_filename),
+            {"overwrite": self.overwrite, "multifile": self.multifile},
+        )
 
 
 class LightningCLI:
diff --git a/tests/utilities/test_cli.py b/tests/utilities/test_cli.py
index 2803c0c4601c1..5b37adfa1398b 100644
--- a/tests/utilities/test_cli.py
+++ b/tests/utilities/test_cli.py
@@ -50,9 +50,8 @@
     SaveConfigCallback,
 )
 from pytorch_lightning.utilities.exceptions import MisconfigurationException
-from pytorch_lightning.utilities.imports import _TORCHVISION_AVAILABLE
+from pytorch_lightning.utilities.imports import _TORCH_GREATER_EQUAL_1_8, _TORCHVISION_AVAILABLE
 from tests.helpers import BoringDataModule, BoringModel
-from tests.helpers.runif import RunIf
 from tests.helpers.utils import no_warning_call
 
 torchvision_version = version.parse("0")
@@ -577,20 +576,15 @@ def on_fit_start(self):
 
 
 @pytest.mark.parametrize("logger", (False, True))
-@pytest.mark.parametrize(
-    "trainer_kwargs",
-    (
-        # dict(strategy="ddp_spawn")
-        # dict(strategy="ddp")
-        # the previous accl_conn will choose singleDeviceStrategy for both strategy=ddp/ddp_spawn
-        # TODO revisit this test as it never worked with DDP or DDPSpawn
-        dict(strategy="single_device"),
-        pytest.param({"tpu_cores": 1}, marks=RunIf(tpu=True)),
-    ),
-)
-def test_cli_distributed_save_config_callback(tmpdir, logger, trainer_kwargs):
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("strategy", ("ddp_spawn", "ddp"))
+def test_cli_distributed_save_config_callback(tmpdir, logger, strategy):
+    if _TORCH_GREATER_EQUAL_1_8:
+        from torch.multiprocessing import ProcessRaisedException
+    else:
+        ProcessRaisedException = Exception
+
     with mock.patch("sys.argv", ["any.py", "fit"]), pytest.raises(
-        MisconfigurationException, match=r"Error on fit start"
+        (MisconfigurationException, ProcessRaisedException), match=r"Error on fit start"
     ):
         LightningCLI(
             EarlyExitTestModel,
@@ -599,7 +593,9 @@ def test_cli_distributed_save_config_callback(tmpdir, logger, trainer_kwargs):
                 "logger": logger,
                 "max_steps": 1,
                 "max_epochs": 1,
-                **trainer_kwargs,
+                "strategy": strategy,
+                "accelerator": "auto",
+                "devices": 1,
             },
         )
     if logger: