diff --git a/doc/changelog.asciidoc b/doc/changelog.asciidoc
index 514261953..acf02f951 100644
--- a/doc/changelog.asciidoc
+++ b/doc/changelog.asciidoc
@@ -70,6 +70,8 @@ Fixed
 - `:navigate` not incrementing in anchors or queries or anchors.
 - Crash when trying to use a proxy requiring authentication with QtWebKit.
 - Slashes in search terms are now percent-escaped.
+- When `scrolling.bar = True` was set in versions before v1.5.0, this now
+  correctly gets migrated to `always` instead of `when-searching`.
 
 v1.5.2
 ------
diff --git a/qutebrowser/config/configfiles.py b/qutebrowser/config/configfiles.py
index 54ca91488..de50dfca9 100644
--- a/qutebrowser/config/configfiles.py
+++ b/qutebrowser/config/configfiles.py
@@ -308,7 +308,7 @@ class YamlConfig(QObject):
 
         self._migrate_bool(settings, 'tabs.favicons.show', 'always', 'never')
         self._migrate_bool(settings, 'scrolling.bar',
-                           'when-searching', 'never')
+                           'always', 'when-searching')
         self._migrate_bool(settings, 'qt.force_software_rendering',
                            'software-opengl', 'none')
 
diff --git a/tests/unit/config/test_configfiles.py b/tests/unit/config/test_configfiles.py
index cba7a4a7f..79d4b9d89 100644
--- a/tests/unit/config/test_configfiles.py
+++ b/tests/unit/config/test_configfiles.py
@@ -255,6 +255,10 @@ class TestYaml:
         ('tabs.favicons.show', False, 'never'),
         ('tabs.favicons.show', 'always', 'always'),
 
+        ('scrolling.bar', True, 'always'),
+        ('scrolling.bar', False, 'when-searching'),
+        ('scrolling.bar', 'always', 'always'),
+
         ('qt.force_software_rendering', True, 'software-opengl'),
         ('qt.force_software_rendering', False, 'none'),
         ('qt.force_software_rendering', 'chromium', 'chromium'),