diff --git a/src/bitmessageqt/__init__.py b/src/bitmessageqt/__init__.py
index 748f6954..1a7dbc42 100644
--- a/src/bitmessageqt/__init__.py
+++ b/src/bitmessageqt/__init__.py
@@ -2936,7 +2936,7 @@ class settingsDialog(QtGui.QDialog):
         self.ui.labelNamecoinPassword.setEnabled(isNamecoind)
 
         if isNamecoind:
-            self.ui.lineEditNamecoinPort.setText("8336")
+            self.ui.lineEditNamecoinPort.setText(shared.namecoinDefaultRpcPort)
         else:
             self.ui.lineEditNamecoinPort.setText("9000")
 
diff --git a/src/namecoin.py b/src/namecoin.py
index 17cd74ea..5ad1c049 100644
--- a/src/namecoin.py
+++ b/src/namecoin.py
@@ -247,33 +247,34 @@ def ensureNamecoinOptions ():
     hasPass = shared.config.has_option (configSection, "namecoinrpcpassword")
 
     # Try to read user/password from .namecoin configuration file.
-    if (not hasUser) or (not hasPass):
-        try:
-            nmcFolder = lookupNamecoinFolder ()
-            nmcConfig = nmcFolder + "namecoin.conf"
-            nmc = open (nmcConfig, "r")
+    try:
+        nmcFolder = lookupNamecoinFolder ()
+        nmcConfig = nmcFolder + "namecoin.conf"
+        nmc = open (nmcConfig, "r")
 
-            while True:
-                line = nmc.readline ()
-                if line == "":
-                    break
-                parts = line.split ("=")
-                if len (parts) == 2:
-                    key = parts[0]
-                    val = parts[1].rstrip ()
+        while True:
+            line = nmc.readline ()
+            if line == "":
+                break
+            parts = line.split ("=")
+            if len (parts) == 2:
+                key = parts[0]
+                val = parts[1].rstrip ()
 
-                    if key == "rpcuser" and not hasUser:
-                        shared.config.set (configSection,
-                                           "namecoinrpcuser", val)
-                    if key == "rpcpassword" and not hasPass:
-                        shared.config.set (configSection,
-                                           "namecoinrpcpassword", val)
-                    
-            nmc.close ()
+                if key == "rpcuser" and not hasUser:
+                    shared.config.set (configSection,
+                                       "namecoinrpcuser", val)
+                if key == "rpcpassword" and not hasPass:
+                    shared.config.set (configSection,
+                                       "namecoinrpcpassword", val)
+                if key == "rpcport":
+                    shared.namecoinDefaultRpcPort = val
+                
+        nmc.close ()
 
-        except Exception as exc:
-            print "Failure reading namecoin config file: %s" % str (exc)
-            if (not hasUser):
-                shared.config.set (configSection, "namecoinrpcuser", "")
-            if (not hasPass):
-                shared.config.set (configSection, "namecoinrpcpassword", "")
+    except Exception as exc:
+        print "Failure reading namecoin config file: %s" % str (exc)
+        if (not hasUser):
+            shared.config.set (configSection, "namecoinrpcuser", "")
+        if (not hasPass):
+            shared.config.set (configSection, "namecoinrpcpassword", "")
diff --git a/src/shared.py b/src/shared.py
index 557b332d..98e540d7 100644
--- a/src/shared.py
+++ b/src/shared.py
@@ -68,6 +68,11 @@ ackdataForWhichImWatching = {}
 networkDefaultProofOfWorkNonceTrialsPerByte = 320 #The amount of work that should be performed (and demanded) per byte of the payload. Double this number to double the work.
 networkDefaultPayloadLengthExtraBytes = 14000 #To make sending short messages a little more difficult, this value is added to the payload length for use in calculating the proof of work target.
 
+# Remember here the RPC port read from namecoin.conf so we can restore to
+# it as default whenever the user changes the "method" selection for
+# namecoin integration to "namecoind".
+namecoinDefaultRpcPort = "8336"
+
 def isInSqlInventory(hash):
     t = (hash,)
     shared.sqlLock.acquire()
@@ -371,4 +376,4 @@ def fixSensitiveFilePermissions(filename, hasEnabledKeys):
         raise
 
 helper_startup.loadConfig()
-from debug import logger
\ No newline at end of file
+from debug import logger