diff --git a/electrum b/electrum
index d51aff977..1c21e234e 100755
--- a/electrum
+++ b/electrum
@@ -340,7 +340,7 @@ if __name__ == '__main__':
 
     # fixme: this can probably be achieved with a runtime hook (pyinstaller)
     if is_bundle and os.path.exists(os.path.join(sys._MEIPASS, 'is_portable')):
-        config_options.get('portable') = True
+        config_options['portable'] = True
 
     if config_options.get('portable'):
         config_options['electrum_path'] = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(os.path.realpath(__file__)), 'electrum_data')