diff --git a/src/mod_netconf.c b/src/mod_netconf.c
index eb05259..36d0754 100644
--- a/src/mod_netconf.c
+++ b/src/mod_netconf.c
@@ -659,6 +659,11 @@
 		return (NULL);
 	}
 
+	/* tell server to show all elements even if they have default values */
+	if (nc_rpc_capability_attr(rpc, NC_CAP_ATTR_WITHDEFAULTS_MODE, NCWD_MODE_ALL)) {
+		ap_log_error(APLOG_MARK, APLOG_ERR, 0, server, "mod_netconf: setting withdefaults failed");
+	}
+
 	data = netconf_opdata(server, session_key, rpc);
 	nc_rpc_free (rpc);
 	return (data);
@@ -700,6 +705,11 @@
 		return (NULL);
 	}
 
+	/* tell server to show all elements even if they have default values */
+	if (nc_rpc_capability_attr(rpc, NC_CAP_ATTR_WITHDEFAULTS_MODE, NCWD_MODE_ALL)) {
+		ap_log_error(APLOG_MARK, APLOG_ERR, 0, server, "mod_netconf: setting withdefaults failed");
+	}
+
 	data = netconf_opdata(server, session_key, rpc);
 	nc_rpc_free (rpc);
 	return (data);
@@ -1967,8 +1977,6 @@
 	/* disable publickey authentication */
 	nc_ssh_pref(NC_SSH_AUTH_PUBLIC_KEYS, -1);
 
-	ncdflt_set_basic_mode(NCWD_MODE_ALL);
-
 	/* create mutex protecting session list */
 	pthread_rwlockattr_init(&lock_attrs);
 	/* rwlock is shared only with threads in this process */