diff --git a/src/shell-global.c b/src/shell-global.c
index 1556bf03d..80f251272 100644
--- a/src/shell-global.c
+++ b/src/shell-global.c
@@ -1577,7 +1577,7 @@ load_variant (GFile      *dir,
   else
     {
       GBytes *bytes = g_mapped_file_get_bytes (mfile);
-      res = g_variant_new_from_bytes (G_VARIANT_TYPE (property_type), bytes, TRUE);
+      res = g_variant_new_from_bytes (G_VARIANT_TYPE (property_type), bytes, FALSE);
       g_bytes_unref (bytes);
       g_mapped_file_unref (mfile);
     }