diff --git a/src/app/qgsvectorlayerproperties.cpp b/src/app/qgsvectorlayerproperties.cpp
index 8e37ef8fe54..6b834aff995 100644
--- a/src/app/qgsvectorlayerproperties.cpp
+++ b/src/app/qgsvectorlayerproperties.cpp
@@ -193,7 +193,8 @@ void QgsVectorLayerProperties::reset( void )
   {
     displayFieldComboBox->addItem( it->name() );
   }   
-  displayFieldComboBox->setItemText( displayFieldComboBox->currentIndex(), layer->displayField() );
+  displayFieldComboBox->setCurrentIndex( displayFieldComboBox->findText(
+        layer->displayField() ) );
 
   // set up the scale based layer visibility stuff....
   chkUseScaleDependentRendering->setChecked(layer->scaleBasedVisibility());