diff --git a/admin/cli/upgrade.php b/admin/cli/upgrade.php
index 5915e24ea03..8e439c5a8e8 100644
--- a/admin/cli/upgrade.php
+++ b/admin/cli/upgrade.php
@@ -51,7 +51,8 @@ list($options, $unrecognized) = cli_get_params(
         'non-interactive'   => false,
         'allow-unstable'    => false,
         'help'              => false,
-        'lang'              => $lang
+        'lang'              => $lang,
+        'verbose-settings'  => false
     ),
     array(
         'h' => 'help'
@@ -84,6 +85,9 @@ Options:
                       site language if not set. Defaults to 'en' if the lang
                       parameter is invalid or if the language pack is not
                       installed.
+--verbose-settings    Show new settings values. By default only the name of
+                      new core or plugin settings are displayed. This option
+                      outputs the new values as well as the setting name.
 -h, --help            Print out this help
 
 Example:
@@ -184,9 +188,24 @@ upgrade_noncore(true);
 // log in as admin - we need doanything permission when applying defaults
 \core\session\manager::set_user(get_admin());
 
-// apply all default settings, just in case do it twice to fill all defaults
-admin_apply_default_settings(NULL, false);
-admin_apply_default_settings(NULL, false);
+// Apply default settings and output those that have changed.
+cli_heading(get_string('cliupgradedefaultheading', 'admin'));
+$settingsoutput = admin_apply_default_settings(null, false);
+
+foreach ($settingsoutput as $setting => $value) {
+
+    if ($options['verbose-settings']) {
+        $stringvlaues = array(
+                'name' => $setting,
+                'defaultsetting' => var_export($value, true) // Expand objects.
+        );
+        echo get_string('cliupgradedefaultverbose', 'admin', $stringvlaues) . PHP_EOL;
+
+    } else {
+        echo get_string('cliupgradedefault', 'admin', $setting) . PHP_EOL;
+
+    }
+}
 
 // This needs to happen at the end to ensure it occurs after all caches
 // have been purged for the last time.
diff --git a/lang/en/admin.php b/lang/en/admin.php
index dd31c0cc18a..5992386317f 100644
--- a/lang/en/admin.php
+++ b/lang/en/admin.php
@@ -128,6 +128,9 @@ $string['clitypevaluedefault'] = 'type value, press Enter to use default value (
 $string['cliunknowoption'] = 'Unrecognised options:
   {$a}
 Please use --help option.';
+$string['cliupgradedefault'] = 'New setting: {$a}';
+$string['cliupgradedefaultheading'] = 'Setting new default values';
+$string['cliupgradedefaultverbose'] = 'New setting: {$a->name}, Default value: {$a->defaultsetting}';
 $string['cliupgradefinished'] = 'Command line upgrade from {$a->oldversion} to {$a->newversion} completed successfully.';
 $string['cliupgradenoneed'] = 'No upgrade needed for the installed version {$a}. Thanks for coming anyway!';
 $string['cliyesnoprompt'] = 'type y (means yes) or n (means no)';
diff --git a/lib/adminlib.php b/lib/adminlib.php
index d6cd9ace66e..9c53c36314b 100644
--- a/lib/adminlib.php
+++ b/lib/adminlib.php
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 <?php
+
 // This file is part of Moodle - http://moodle.org/
 //
 // Moodle is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
@@ -8006,12 +8007,16 @@ function admin_get_root($reload=false, $requirefulltree=true) {
 
 /**
  * This function applies default settings.
+ * Because setting the defaults of some settings can enable other settings,
+ * this function is called recursively until no more new settings are found.
  *
  * @param object $node, NULL means complete tree, null by default
- * @param bool $unconditional if true overrides all values with defaults, null buy default
+ * @param bool $unconditional if true overrides all values with defaults, true by default
+ * @param array $admindefaultsettings default admin settings to apply. Used recursively
+ * @param array $settingsoutput The names and values of the changed settings. Used recursively
+ * @return array $settingsoutput The names and values of the changed settings
  */
-function admin_apply_default_settings($node=NULL, $unconditional=true) {
-    global $CFG;
+function admin_apply_default_settings($node=null, $unconditional=true, $admindefaultsettings=array(), $settingsoutput=array()) {
 
     if (is_null($node)) {
         core_plugin_manager::reset_caches();
@@ -8021,26 +8026,46 @@ function admin_apply_default_settings($node=NULL, $unconditional=true) {
     if ($node instanceof admin_category) {
         $entries = array_keys($node->children);
         foreach ($entries as $entry) {
-            admin_apply_default_settings($node->children[$entry], $unconditional);
+            $settingsoutput = admin_apply_default_settings(
+                    $node->children[$entry], $unconditional, $admindefaultsettings, $settingsoutput
+                    );
         }
 
     } else if ($node instanceof admin_settingpage) {
-            foreach ($node->settings as $setting) {
-                if (!$unconditional and !is_null($setting->get_setting())) {
-                //do not override existing defaults
-                    continue;
-                }
-                $defaultsetting = $setting->get_defaultsetting();
-                if (is_null($defaultsetting)) {
-                // no value yet - default maybe applied after admin user creation or in upgradesettings
-                    continue;
-                }
+        foreach ($node->settings as $setting) {
+            if (!$unconditional and !is_null($setting->get_setting())) {
+                // Do not override existing defaults.
+                continue;
+            }
+            $defaultsetting = $setting->get_defaultsetting();
+            if (is_null($defaultsetting)) {
+                // No value yet - default maybe applied after admin user creation or in upgradesettings.
+                continue;
+            }
+
+            $settingname = $node->name . '_' . $setting->name; // Get a unique name for the setting.
+
+            if (!array_key_exists($settingname, $admindefaultsettings)) {  // Only update a setting if not already processed.
+                $admindefaultsettings[$settingname] = $settingname;
+                $settingsoutput[$settingname] = $defaultsetting;
+
+                // Set the default for this setting.
                 $setting->write_setting($defaultsetting);
                 $setting->write_setting_flags(null);
+            } else {
+                unset($admindefaultsettings[$settingname]); // Remove processed settings.
             }
         }
+    }
+
+    // Call this function recursively until all settings are processed.
+    if (($node instanceof admin_root) && (!empty($admindefaultsettings))) {
+        $settingsoutput = admin_apply_default_settings(null, $unconditional, $admindefaultsettings, $settingsoutput);
+    }
     // Just in case somebody modifies the list of active plugins directly.
     core_plugin_manager::reset_caches();
+
+    return $settingsoutput;
 }
 
 /**
diff --git a/lib/installlib.php b/lib/installlib.php
index 88bfaafeeb9..3de940a9921 100644
--- a/lib/installlib.php
+++ b/lib/installlib.php
@@ -510,8 +510,7 @@ function install_cli_database(array $options, $interactive) {
     // log in as admin - we need do anything when applying defaults
     \core\session\manager::set_user(get_admin());
 
-    // apply all default settings, do it twice to fill all defaults - some settings depend on other setting
-    admin_apply_default_settings(NULL, true);
+    // Apply all default settings.
     admin_apply_default_settings(NULL, true);
     set_config('registerauth', '');
 
diff --git a/lib/upgrade.txt b/lib/upgrade.txt
index bdb18ab06f9..6bea9f1ab00 100644
--- a/lib/upgrade.txt
+++ b/lib/upgrade.txt
@@ -159,6 +159,12 @@ the groupid field.
     When $CFG->keepmessagingallusersenabled is set to true, $CFG->messagingallusers will be also set to true to enable messaging site users.
     However, when it is empty, $CFG->messagingallusers will be disabled during the upgrading process, so the users will only be able to
     message contacts and users sharing a course with them.
+* There has been interface and functional changes to admin_apply_default_settings() (/lib/adminlib.php).  The function now takes two
+  additional optional parameters, $admindefaultsettings and $settingsoutput.  It also has a return value $settingsoutput.
+  The function now does not need to be called twice to ensure all default settings are set.  Instead the function calls itself recursively
+  until all settings have been set. The additional parameters are used recursively and shouldn't be need to be explicitly passed in when calling
+  the function from other parts of Moodle.
+  The return value: $settingsoutput is an array of setting names and the values that were set by the function.
 
 === 3.5 ===
 
diff --git a/lib/upgradelib.php b/lib/upgradelib.php
index ffd7f86e386..e11e2e3adc5 100644
--- a/lib/upgradelib.php
+++ b/lib/upgradelib.php
@@ -2642,9 +2642,6 @@ function upgrade_fix_config_auth_plugin_defaults($plugin) {
         include($settingspath);
 
         if ($settings) {
-            // Consistently with what admin/cli/upgrade.php does, apply the default settings twice.
-            // I assume this is done for theoretical cases when a default value depends on an other.
-            admin_apply_default_settings($settings, false);
             admin_apply_default_settings($settings, false);
         }
     }