diff --git a/simgear/package/Catalog.cxx b/simgear/package/Catalog.cxx
index 0c1296a8..7cb8bc7d 100644
--- a/simgear/package/Catalog.cxx
+++ b/simgear/package/Catalog.cxx
@@ -595,13 +595,17 @@ void Catalog::setUserEnabled(bool b)
 
     m_userEnabled = b;
     SGPath disableMarkerFile = installRoot() / "_disabled_";
-    if (m_userEnabled) {
-        sg_ofstream of(disableMarkerFile);
-        of << "1\n"; // touch the file
+
+    if (m_userEnabled == false) {
+        sg_ofstream of(disableMarkerFile, std::ios::trunc | std::ios::out);
+        of << "1" << std::flush; // touch the file
+        of.close();
     } else {
-        bool ok = disableMarkerFile.remove();
-        if (!ok) {
-            SG_LOG(SG_GENERAL, SG_ALERT, "Failed to remove catalog-disable marker file:" << disableMarkerFile);
+        if (disableMarkerFile.exists()) {
+            const bool ok = disableMarkerFile.remove();
+            if (!ok) {
+                SG_LOG(SG_IO, SG_WARN, "Failed to remove catalog-disable marker file:" << disableMarkerFile);
+            }
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/simgear/package/Root.cxx b/simgear/package/Root.cxx
index e0fedfcf..193199c3 100755
--- a/simgear/package/Root.cxx
+++ b/simgear/package/Root.cxx
@@ -690,14 +690,17 @@ void Root::catalogRefreshStatus(CatalogRef aCat, Delegate::StatusCode aReason)
         d->refreshing.erase(aCat);
     }
 
-    if ((aReason == Delegate::STATUS_REFRESHED) && (catIt == d->catalogs.end())) {
+    if (aCat->isUserEnabled() &&
+        (aReason == Delegate::STATUS_REFRESHED) && 
+        (catIt == d->catalogs.end())) 
+    {
         assert(!aCat->id().empty());
         d->catalogs.insert(catIt, CatalogDict::value_type(aCat->id(), aCat));
 
-        // catalog might have been previously disabled, let's remove in that case
+    // catalog might have been previously disabled, let's remove in that case
         auto j = std::find(d->disabledCatalogs.begin(),
-                           d->disabledCatalogs.end(),
-                           aCat);
+                        d->disabledCatalogs.end(),
+                        aCat);
         if (j != d->disabledCatalogs.end()) {
             SG_LOG(SG_GENERAL, SG_INFO, "re-enabling disabled catalog:" << aCat->id());
             d->disabledCatalogs.erase(j);
@@ -705,7 +708,7 @@ void Root::catalogRefreshStatus(CatalogRef aCat, Delegate::StatusCode aReason)
     }
 
     if (!aCat->isEnabled()) {
-        // catalog has errors, disable it
+        // catalog has errors or was disabled by user, disable it
         auto j = std::find(d->disabledCatalogs.begin(),
                            d->disabledCatalogs.end(),
                            aCat);