diff --git a/rhodecode/model/forms.py b/rhodecode/model/forms.py
index 63bc6c27..bcf35235 100644
--- a/rhodecode/model/forms.py
+++ b/rhodecode/model/forms.py
@@ -454,7 +454,7 @@ class _BaseVcsSettingsForm(formencode.Schema):
     rhodecode_diff_cache = v.StringBoolean(if_missing=False)
 
     # Pull Request settings
-    pr_target_branch_prepopulate = v.StringBoolean(if_missing=True)
+    rhodecode_pr_target_branch_prepopulate = v.StringBoolean(if_missing=False)
 
 
 def ApplicationUiSettingsForm(localizer):
diff --git a/rhodecode/templates/base/vcs_settings.mako b/rhodecode/templates/base/vcs_settings.mako
index 23cf117e..5d0e2d7a 100644
--- a/rhodecode/templates/base/vcs_settings.mako
+++ b/rhodecode/templates/base/vcs_settings.mako
@@ -217,7 +217,7 @@
                     </div>
                     <div class="label">
                         <span class="help-block">${_('This feature is available in RhodeCode EE edition only. Contact {sales_email} to obtain a trial license.').format(sales_email='<a href="mailto:sales@rhodecode.com">sales@rhodecode.com</a>')|n}</span>
-                    <div>
+                    </div>
                 %else:
                     <div class="checkbox">
                         ${h.checkbox('rhodecode_auto_merge_enabled' + suffix, 'True', **kwargs)}
@@ -236,8 +236,8 @@
                 </div>
                 
                 <div class="checkbox">
-                    ${h.checkbox('pr_target_branch_prepopulate' + suffix, 'True', **kwargs)}
-                    <label for="pr_target_branch_prepopulate${suffix}">${_('Pre-populate target branch when creating pull requests')}</label>
+                    ${h.checkbox('rhodecode_pr_target_branch_prepopulate' + suffix, 'True', **kwargs)}
+                    <label for="rhodecode_pr_target_branch_prepopulate${suffix}">${_('Pre-populate target branch when creating pull requests')}</label>
                 </div>
                 <div class="label">
                     <span class="help-block">${_('When enabled, the target branch field will be automatically populated when creating pull requests. Disable this to prevent expensive diff calculations on repositories with many divergent branches.')}</span>
@@ -307,6 +307,8 @@
 ##                <div class="label">
 ##                  <span class="help-block">${_('Use rebase instead of creating a merge commit when merging via web interface.')}</span>
 ##               </div>
+                ## Hidden field for commented-out setting to prevent validation errors
+                ${h.hidden('rhodecode_git_use_rebase_for_merging' + suffix, 'False')}
 
             <div class="checkbox">
                 ${h.checkbox('rhodecode_git_close_branch_before_merging' + suffix, 'True', **kwargs)}