diff --git a/src/plugins/cpptools/cppcodemodelsettings.cpp b/src/plugins/cpptools/cppcodemodelsettings.cpp
index 5aaaa2c105a..00c57c81733 100644
--- a/src/plugins/cpptools/cppcodemodelsettings.cpp
+++ b/src/plugins/cpptools/cppcodemodelsettings.cpp
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ static Core::Id initialClangDiagnosticConfigId()
 { return Core::Id(Constants::CPP_CLANG_BUILTIN_CONFIG_ID_EVERYTHING_WITH_EXCEPTIONS); }
 
 static CppCodeModelSettings::PCHUsage initialPchUsage()
-{ return CppCodeModelSettings::PchUse_None; }
+{ return CppCodeModelSettings::PchUse_BuildSystem; }
 
 static QString clangDiagnosticConfigKey()
 { return QStringLiteral("ClangDiagnosticConfig"); }
diff --git a/src/plugins/cpptools/cppcodemodelsettings.h b/src/plugins/cpptools/cppcodemodelsettings.h
index bc91fbd1b8e..ca1a3cf155c 100644
--- a/src/plugins/cpptools/cppcodemodelsettings.h
+++ b/src/plugins/cpptools/cppcodemodelsettings.h
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ signals:
     void changed();
 
 private:
-    PCHUsage m_pchUsage = PchUse_None;
+    PCHUsage m_pchUsage = PchUse_BuildSystem;
     bool m_interpretAmbigiousHeadersAsCHeaders = false;
     bool m_skipIndexingBigFiles = true;
     int m_indexerFileSizeLimitInMB = 5;