diff --git a/src/mcconfig/set.c b/src/mcconfig/set.c
index 047c26cae..5994125d5 100644
--- a/src/mcconfig/set.c
+++ b/src/mcconfig/set.c
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ mc_config_normalize_before_save(const gchar * value)
     {
         conv = str_crt_conv_to ("UTF-8");
         if (conv == INVALID_CONV)
-            return;
+            return g_strdup(value);
 
         buffer = g_string_new ("");