diff --git a/lisp/term/x-win.el b/lisp/term/x-win.el
index 956b63568ab..2d6dec473f7 100644
--- a/lisp/term/x-win.el
+++ b/lisp/term/x-win.el
@@ -738,6 +738,6 @@ This is in addition to the primary selection.")
 (setq split-window-keep-point t)
 
 ;; Don't show the frame name; that's redundant with X.
-(setq mode-line-buffer-identification '("Emacs: %12b"))
+(setq-default mode-line-buffer-identification '("Emacs: %12b"))
 
 ;;; x-win.el ends here