diff --git a/lib/htaccess b/lib/htaccess
index 35609588ca8..f330ba874a3 100644
--- a/lib/htaccess
+++ b/lib/htaccess
@@ -27,12 +27,12 @@ DirectoryIndex index.php index.html index.htm
 
 ### Thirdly, set up some PHP variables that Moodle needs
 
-php_value magic_quotes_gpc On
-php_value magic_quotes_runtime Off   
-php_value file_uploads On
-php_value short_open_tag On
-php_value session.auto_start Off
-php_value session.bug_compat_warn Off
+php_flag magic_quotes_gpc        1
+php_flag magic_quotes_runtime    0   
+php_flag file_uploads            1
+php_flag short_open_tag          1
+php_flag session.auto_start      0
+php_flag session.bug_compat_warn 0
 
 ### Fourthly, sometimes Apache limits the size of uploaded files
 ### (this is a separate limit to the one in PHP, see below).