diff --git a/src/share/classes/sun/util/xml/XMLUtils.java b/src/share/classes/sun/util/xml/XMLUtils.java
index ab7ca8513961dc5604e4b5d1f5858b3dd8142528..07677334db8bc475ec8c406818dae009e7ebecdb 100644
--- a/src/share/classes/sun/util/xml/XMLUtils.java
+++ b/src/share/classes/sun/util/xml/XMLUtils.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright (c) 2003, 2010, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
+ * Copyright (c) 2003, 2011, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
  * DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER.
  *
  * This code is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ public class XMLUtils {
         } catch (SAXException saxe) {
             throw new InvalidPropertiesFormatException(saxe);
         }
-        Element propertiesElement = (Element)doc.getChildNodes().item(1);
+        Element propertiesElement = doc.getDocumentElement();
         String xmlVersion = propertiesElement.getAttribute("version");
         if (xmlVersion.compareTo(EXTERNAL_XML_VERSION) > 0)
             throw new InvalidPropertiesFormatException(