diff --git a/lib/setopt.c b/lib/setopt.c
index ba36b495c1..d8bcbd3736 100644
--- a/lib/setopt.c
+++ b/lib/setopt.c
@@ -426,7 +426,7 @@ CURLcode Curl_vsetopt(struct Curl_easy *data, CURLoption option, va_list param)
     arg = va_arg(param, long);
     if((arg < CURL_NETRC_IGNORED) || (arg >= CURL_NETRC_LAST))
       return CURLE_BAD_FUNCTION_ARGUMENT;
-    data->set.use_netrc = (enum CURL_NETRC_OPTION)arg;
+    data->set.use_netrc = (unsigned char)arg;
     break;
   case CURLOPT_NETRC_FILE:
     /*
diff --git a/lib/urldata.h b/lib/urldata.h
index e8aa930410..9f5a6acf4e 100644
--- a/lib/urldata.h
+++ b/lib/urldata.h
@@ -1769,8 +1769,7 @@ struct UserDefined {
   curl_sshkeycallback ssh_keyfunc; /* key matching callback */
   void *ssh_keyfunc_userp;         /* custom pointer to callback */
 #ifndef CURL_DISABLE_NETRC
-  enum CURL_NETRC_OPTION
-       use_netrc;        /* defined in include/curl.h */
+  unsigned char use_netrc;        /* enum CURL_NETRC_OPTION values  */
 #endif
   curl_usessl use_ssl;   /* if AUTH TLS is to be attempted etc, for FTP or
                             IMAP or POP3 or others! */