diff --git a/src/share/vm/runtime/arguments.cpp b/src/share/vm/runtime/arguments.cpp
index fa2ba23383be4b04a1f7c48f3065f27328bfea57..831218796cf671e40722a44ee5cb0eea2d585f4d 100644
--- a/src/share/vm/runtime/arguments.cpp
+++ b/src/share/vm/runtime/arguments.cpp
@@ -2322,7 +2322,12 @@ SOLARIS_ONLY(
       return JNI_ERR;
     }
   }
-
+  // Change the default value for flags  which have different default values
+  // when working with older JDKs.
+  if (JDK_Version::current().compare_major(6) <= 0 &&
+      FLAG_IS_DEFAULT(UseVMInterruptibleIO)) {
+    FLAG_SET_DEFAULT(UseVMInterruptibleIO, true);
+  }
   return JNI_OK;
 }
 
diff --git a/src/share/vm/runtime/globals.hpp b/src/share/vm/runtime/globals.hpp
index a2476f9c707211dbef51a1aa34a8af89b38b13ec..85689054e3c95bda1946c70e884b3b6a635bc44e 100644
--- a/src/share/vm/runtime/globals.hpp
+++ b/src/share/vm/runtime/globals.hpp
@@ -3262,9 +3262,10 @@ class CommandLineFlags {
   diagnostic(bool, PrintDTraceDOF, false,                                   \
              "Print the DTrace DOF passed to the system for JSDT probes")   \
                                                                             \
-  product(bool, UseVMInterruptibleIO, true,                                 \
+  product(bool, UseVMInterruptibleIO, false,                                \
           "(Unstable, Solaris-specific) Thread interrupt before or with "   \
-          "EINTR for I/O operations results in OS_INTRPT")
+          "EINTR for I/O operations results in OS_INTRPT. The default value"\
+          " of this flag is true for JDK 6 and earliers")
 
 
 /*