diff --git a/lisp/ChangeLog b/lisp/ChangeLog
index 4d130250dcf..fb710374e18 100644
--- a/lisp/ChangeLog
+++ b/lisp/ChangeLog
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 	* desktop.el (desktop-read): Don't prompt if daemon (Bug#11674).
 	(desktop-path): Remove . from the default value (Bug#10977).
+	(desktop-read): Use user-emacs-directory if desktop-path is nil.
 
 2012-06-20  Chong Yidong  <cyd@gnu.org>
 
diff --git a/lisp/desktop.el b/lisp/desktop.el
index 2fd9d7f10ad..2c2106e18b7 100644
--- a/lisp/desktop.el
+++ b/lisp/desktop.el
@@ -966,8 +966,8 @@ It returns t if a desktop file was loaded, nil otherwise."
                (and dirs (car dirs)))
              ;; If not found and `desktop-path' is non-nil, use its first element.
              (and desktop-path (car desktop-path))
-             ;; Default: Home directory.
-             "~"))))
+             ;; Default: .emacs.d.
+             user-emacs-directory))))
     (if (file-exists-p (desktop-full-file-name))
 	;; Desktop file found, but is it already in use?
 	(let ((desktop-first-buffer nil)