diff --git a/pscp.c b/pscp.c
index b983169f..9827b7f4 100644
--- a/pscp.c
+++ b/pscp.c
@@ -395,6 +395,17 @@ static void do_cmd(char *host, char *user, char *cmd)
         }
     }
 
+    /*
+     * Force protocol to SSH if the user has somehow contrived to
+     * select one we don't support (e.g. by loading an inappropriate
+     * saved session). In that situation we assume the port number is
+     * useless too.)
+     */
+    if (!backend_vt_from_proto(conf_get_int(conf, CONF_protocol))) {
+        conf_set_int(conf, CONF_protocol, PROT_SSH);
+        conf_set_int(conf, CONF_port, 22);
+    }
+
     /*
      * Disable scary things which shouldn't be enabled for simple
      * things like SCP and SFTP: agent forwarding, port forwarding,
@@ -2242,8 +2253,6 @@ int psftp_main(int argc, char *argv[])
     int i;
     bool sanitise_stderr = true;
 
-    settings_set_default_protocol(PROT_SSH);
-
     sk_init();
 
     /* Load Default Settings before doing anything else. */