diff --git a/src/PostIt/PostIt/ViewModels/Settings/Settings.cs b/src/PostIt/PostIt/ViewModels/Settings/Settings.cs
index 0864c1416..b59ef9933 100644
--- a/src/PostIt/PostIt/ViewModels/Settings/Settings.cs
+++ b/src/PostIt/PostIt/ViewModels/Settings/Settings.cs
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@ using System.Collections.Generic;
 using System.IO;
 using System.Net.Http;
 using System.Text.Json;
-using System.Text.Json.Serialization;
 
 [assembly: InternalsVisibleTo("PostIt.Tests")]
 
@@ -33,7 +32,6 @@ public partial class Settings : ViewModelBase
     public partial string SearchText { get; set; } = string.Empty;
 
     [ObservableProperty]
-    [JsonIgnore]
     public partial StatusNotice ActionStatus { get; set; } = StatusNotice.Info("Pret.");
 
     public void SetActionStatus(string message, StatusSeverity severity = StatusSeverity.Info)
@@ -125,8 +123,6 @@ public partial class Settings : ViewModelBase
         // build options from a torn read.
         lock (_mutationGate)
         {
-            EnsureAuthenticationDefaultsLocked();
-
             var options = new OidcClientOptions
             {
                 Authority = Authentication.Authority,
@@ -155,25 +151,6 @@ public partial class Settings : ViewModelBase
         }
     }
 
-    private void EnsureAuthenticationDefaultsLocked()
-    {
-        Authentication ??= new AuthenticationSettings();
-
-        if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(Authentication.Authority))
-            Authentication.Authority = AuthenticationSettings.DefaultAuthority;
-
-        if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(Authentication.ClientId))
-            Authentication.ClientId = AuthenticationSettings.DefaultClientId;
-
-        if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(Authentication.RedirectUri))
-            Authentication.RedirectUri = AuthenticationSettings.DesktopRedirectUri;
-
-        if (Authentication.Scopes is null || Authentication.Scopes.Length == 0)
-            Authentication.Scopes = AuthenticationSettings.DefaultScopes;
-
-        Authentication.RefreshScopeListText();
-    }
-
     /// <summary>
     /// Scopes the PostIt client always requires from the OIDC provider,
     /// regardless of what the user has in their settings file.
@@ -357,13 +334,11 @@ public partial class Settings : ViewModelBase
                      AuthenticationSettings.DesktopRedirectUri : settings.Authentication.RedirectUri;
                     if (settings.Authentication.Scopes is null || settings.Authentication.Scopes.Length == 0)
                     {
-                        this.Authentication.Scopes = AuthenticationSettings.DefaultScopes;
+                        settings.Authentication.Scopes = AuthenticationSettings.DefaultScopes;
                     }
                     else
                         this.Authentication.Scopes = settings.Authentication.Scopes;
                 }
-
-                EnsureAuthenticationDefaultsLocked();
             }
             // A disk load (or an embedded-resource fallback) is the
             // baseline, not a user edit. Clear the dirty flag last