diff --git a/src/frontends/qt4/GuiPrefs.cpp b/src/frontends/qt4/GuiPrefs.cpp
index d5e80af9f5..2aee32d4b7 100644
--- a/src/frontends/qt4/GuiPrefs.cpp
+++ b/src/frontends/qt4/GuiPrefs.cpp
@@ -1737,18 +1737,18 @@ void PrefShortcuts::apply(LyXRC & rc) const
 {
 	rc.bind_file = internal_path(fromqstr(bindFileED->text()));
 	// write user_bind and user_unbind to .lyx/bind/user.bind
-	string bind_dir = addPath(package().user_support().absFilename(), "bind");
-	if (!FileName(bind_dir).exists() && FileName(bind_dir).createDirectory(0777)) {
+	FileName bind_dir(addPath(package().user_support().absFilename(), "bind"));
+	if (!bind_dir.exists() && !bind_dir.createDirectory(0777)) {
 		lyxerr << "LyX could not create the user bind directory '"
 		       << bind_dir << "'. All user-defined key bindings will be lost." << endl;
 		return;
 	}
-	if (!FileName(bind_dir).isDirWritable()) {
+	if (!bind_dir.isDirWritable()) {
 		lyxerr << "LyX could not write to the user bind directory '"
 		       << bind_dir << "'. All user-defined key bindings will be lost." << endl;
 		return;
 	}
-	FileName user_bind_file = FileName(addName(bind_dir, "user.bind"));
+	FileName user_bind_file(bind_dir.absFilename() + "/user.bind");
 	user_bind_.write(user_bind_file.toFilesystemEncoding(), false, false);
 	user_unbind_.write(user_bind_file.toFilesystemEncoding(), true, true);
 	// immediately apply the keybindings. Why this is not done before?