diff --git a/src/settings/plugins/ifcfg-rh/shvar.c b/src/settings/plugins/ifcfg-rh/shvar.c
index 8e174bd56b..4a5ca1d186 100644
--- a/src/settings/plugins/ifcfg-rh/shvar.c
+++ b/src/settings/plugins/ifcfg-rh/shvar.c
@@ -368,6 +368,14 @@ svGetValueInt64 (shvarFile *s, const char *key, guint base, gint64 min, gint64 m
  */
 void
 svSetValue (shvarFile *s, const char *key, const char *value, gboolean verbatim)
+{
+	svSetValueFull (s, key, value && value[0] ? value : NULL, verbatim);
+}
+
+/* Same as svSetValue() but it preserves empty @value -- contrary to
+ * svSetValue() for which "" effectively means to remove the value. */
+void
+svSetValueFull (shvarFile *s, const char *key, const char *value, gboolean verbatim)
 {
 	gs_free char *newval_free = NULL;
 	gs_free char *oldval = NULL;
@@ -384,7 +392,7 @@ svSetValue (shvarFile *s, const char *key, const char *value, gboolean verbatim)
 		newval = svEscape (value, &newval_free);
 	oldval = svGetValueFull (s, key, FALSE);
 
-	if (!newval || !newval[0]) {
+	if (!newval) {
 		/* delete value */
 		if (oldval) {
 			/* delete line */
diff --git a/src/settings/plugins/ifcfg-rh/shvar.h b/src/settings/plugins/ifcfg-rh/shvar.h
index 738bce6d11..4902541b00 100644
--- a/src/settings/plugins/ifcfg-rh/shvar.h
+++ b/src/settings/plugins/ifcfg-rh/shvar.h
@@ -72,6 +72,7 @@ gint64 svGetValueInt64 (shvarFile *s, const char *key, guint base, gint64 min, g
  * to the top of the file.
  */
 void svSetValue (shvarFile *s, const char *key, const char *value, gboolean verbatim);
+void svSetValueFull (shvarFile *s, const char *key, const char *value, gboolean verbatim);
 
 
 /* Write the current contents iff modified.  Returns FALSE on error