diff --git a/stepmania/src/CatalogXml.cpp b/stepmania/src/CatalogXml.cpp
index 3a478c562e..0c42a4a853 100644
--- a/stepmania/src/CatalogXml.cpp
+++ b/stepmania/src/CatalogXml.cpp
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
 #include "UnlockManager.h"
 #include "arch/LoadingWindow/LoadingWindow.h"
 #include "LocalizedString.h"
+#include "Preference.h"
 
 #define SHOW_PLAY_MODE(pm)		THEME->GetMetricB("CatalogXml",ssprintf("ShowPlayMode%s",PlayModeToString(pm).c_str()))
 #define SHOW_STYLE(ps)			THEME->GetMetricB("CatalogXml",ssprintf("ShowStyle%s",Capitalize((ps)->m_szName).c_str()))
@@ -38,11 +39,15 @@ const RString CATALOG_XSL       = "Catalog.xsl";
 const RString CATALOG_XML_FILE  = "Save/" + CATALOG_XML;
 
 static LocalizedString SAVING_CATALOG_XML( "CatalogXml", "Saving %s ..." );
+Preference<bool> g_bWriteCatalog( "WriteCatalog", true );
+
 void CatalogXml::Save( LoadingWindow *loading_window )
 {
 	ASSERT( SONGMAN );
 	ASSERT( UNLOCKMAN );
 
+	if( !g_bWriteCatalog )
+		return;
 	if( loading_window )
 		loading_window->SetText( ssprintf(SAVING_CATALOG_XML.GetValue(),CATALOG_XML.c_str()) );
 
diff --git a/stepmania/src/Profile.cpp b/stepmania/src/Profile.cpp
index 3cb24e90f8..2100fda4a4 100644
--- a/stepmania/src/Profile.cpp
+++ b/stepmania/src/Profile.cpp
@@ -41,8 +41,8 @@ const RString EDIT_COURSES_SUBDIR  = "EditCourses/";
 ThemeMetric<bool> SHOW_COIN_DATA( "Profile", "ShowCoinData" );
 static Preference<bool> g_bProfileDataCompress( "ProfileDataCompress", false );
 static Preference<bool> g_bCopyCatalogToProfiles( "CopyCatalogToProfiles", true );
+extern Preference<bool> g_bWriteCatalog;
 static ThemeMetric<RString> UNLOCK_AUTH_STRING( "Profile", "UnlockAuthString" );
-
 #define GUID_SIZE_BYTES 8
 
 #define MAX_EDITABLE_INI_SIZE_BYTES			2*1024		// 2KB
@@ -1642,7 +1642,7 @@ void Profile::SaveStatsWebPageToDir( RString sDir ) const
 
 	FileCopy( THEME->GetPathO("Profile",STATS_XSL), sDir+STATS_XSL );
 	FileCopy( THEME->GetPathO("Profile",COMMON_XSL), sDir+COMMON_XSL );
-	if( g_bCopyCatalogToProfiles )
+	if( g_bCopyCatalogToProfiles && g_bWriteCatalog )
 	{
 		FileCopy( CATALOG_XML_FILE, sDir+CATALOG_XML );
 		FileCopy( THEME->GetPathO("Profile",CATALOG_XSL), sDir+CATALOG_XSL );