diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 51ecc94d8c..b5339972d7 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -30,6 +30,8 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 - `opentelemetry-instrumentation-httpx`: instrument_client is a static method again
   ([#3003](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-python-contrib/pull/3003))
+- `opentelemetry-instrumentation-system_metrics`: fix callbacks reading wrong config
+  ([#3025](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-python-contrib/pull/3025))
 - `opentelemetry-instrumentation-httpx`: Check if mount transport is none before wrap it
   ([#3022](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-python-contrib/pull/3022))
 
diff --git a/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-system-metrics/src/opentelemetry/instrumentation/system_metrics/__init__.py b/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-system-metrics/src/opentelemetry/instrumentation/system_metrics/__init__.py
index 4e1ee2a5df..aff86ea77b 100644
--- a/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-system-metrics/src/opentelemetry/instrumentation/system_metrics/__init__.py
+++ b/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-system-metrics/src/opentelemetry/instrumentation/system_metrics/__init__.py
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@
         "process.runtime.thread_count": None,
         "process.runtime.cpu.utilization": None,
         "process.runtime.context_switches": ["involuntary", "voluntary"],
+        "process.open_file_descriptor.count": None,
     }
 
 Usage
@@ -595,7 +596,7 @@ def _get_system_network_packets(
         """Observer callback for network packets"""
 
         for device, counters in psutil.net_io_counters(pernic=True).items():
-            for metric in self._config["system.network.dropped.packets"]:
+            for metric in self._config["system.network.packets"]:
                 recv_sent = {"receive": "recv", "transmit": "sent"}[metric]
                 if hasattr(counters, f"packets_{recv_sent}"):
                     self._system_network_packets_labels["device"] = device
@@ -626,7 +627,7 @@ def _get_system_network_io(
         """Observer callback for network IO"""
 
         for device, counters in psutil.net_io_counters(pernic=True).items():
-            for metric in self._config["system.network.dropped.packets"]:
+            for metric in self._config["system.network.io"]:
                 recv_sent = {"receive": "recv", "transmit": "sent"}[metric]
                 if hasattr(counters, f"bytes_{recv_sent}"):
                     self._system_network_io_labels["device"] = device
diff --git a/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-system-metrics/tests/test_system_metrics.py b/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-system-metrics/tests/test_system_metrics.py
index 83abcff4c0..92c30a66f0 100644
--- a/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-system-metrics/tests/test_system_metrics.py
+++ b/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-system-metrics/tests/test_system_metrics.py
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 from unittest import mock, skipIf
 
 from opentelemetry.instrumentation.system_metrics import (
+    _DEFAULT_CONFIG,
     SystemMetricsInstrumentor,
 )
 from opentelemetry.sdk.metrics import MeterProvider
@@ -865,3 +866,14 @@ def test_open_file_descriptor_count(self, mock_process_num_fds):
             expected,
         )
         mock_process_num_fds.assert_called()
+
+
+class TestConfigSystemMetrics(TestBase):
+    # pylint:disable=no-self-use
+    def test_that_correct_config_is_read(self):
+        for key, value in _DEFAULT_CONFIG.items():
+            meter_provider = MeterProvider([InMemoryMetricReader()])
+            instrumentor = SystemMetricsInstrumentor(config={key: value})
+            instrumentor.instrument(meter_provider=meter_provider)
+            meter_provider.force_flush()
+            instrumentor.uninstrument()