diff --git a/composite.cpp b/composite.cpp
index 28e00b5278..f5f7038695 100644
--- a/composite.cpp
+++ b/composite.cpp
@@ -124,7 +124,7 @@ void Workspace::slotCompositingOptionsInitialized()
         kDebug(1212) << "Initializing OpenGL compositing";
 
         // Some broken drivers crash on glXQuery() so to prevent constant KWin crashes:
-        KSharedConfigPtr unsafeConfigPtr(KSharedConfig::openConfig("kwinrc"));
+        KSharedConfigPtr unsafeConfigPtr = KGlobal::config();
         KConfigGroup unsafeConfig(unsafeConfigPtr, "Compositing");
         if (unsafeConfig.readEntry("OpenGLIsUnsafe", false))
             kWarning(1212) << "KWin has detected that your OpenGL library is unsafe to use";
@@ -247,7 +247,7 @@ void Workspace::finishCompositing()
 void Workspace::fallbackToXRenderCompositing()
 {
     finishCompositing();
-    KConfigGroup config(KSharedConfig::openConfig("kwinrc"), "Compositing");
+    KConfigGroup config(KGlobal::config(), "Compositing");
     config.writeEntry("Backend", "XRender");
     config.writeEntry("GraphicsSystem", "native");
     config.sync();
diff --git a/compositingprefs.cpp b/compositingprefs.cpp
index c3cf13bd9e..ea6cb2b507 100644
--- a/compositingprefs.cpp
+++ b/compositingprefs.cpp
@@ -48,15 +48,13 @@ CompositingPrefs::~CompositingPrefs()
 
 bool CompositingPrefs::openGlIsBroken()
 {
-    KSharedConfigPtr config = KSharedConfig::openConfig("kwinrc");
-    return KConfigGroup(config, "Compositing").readEntry("OpenGLIsUnsafe", false);
+    return KConfigGroup(KGlobal::config(), "Compositing").readEntry("OpenGLIsUnsafe", false);
 }
 
 bool CompositingPrefs::compositingPossible()
 {
     // first off, check whether we figured that we'll crash on detection because of a buggy driver
-    KSharedConfigPtr config = KSharedConfig::openConfig("kwinrc");
-    KConfigGroup gl_workaround_group(config, "Compositing");
+    KConfigGroup gl_workaround_group(KGlobal::config(), "Compositing");
     if (gl_workaround_group.readEntry("Backend", "OpenGL") == "OpenGL" &&
         gl_workaround_group.readEntry("OpenGLIsUnsafe", false))
         return false;
@@ -86,8 +84,7 @@ bool CompositingPrefs::compositingPossible()
 QString CompositingPrefs::compositingNotPossibleReason()
 {
     // first off, check whether we figured that we'll crash on detection because of a buggy driver
-    KSharedConfigPtr config = KSharedConfig::openConfig("kwinrc");
-    KConfigGroup gl_workaround_group(config, "Compositing");
+    KConfigGroup gl_workaround_group(KGlobal::config(), "Compositing");
     if (gl_workaround_group.readEntry("Backend", "OpenGL") == "OpenGL" &&
         gl_workaround_group.readEntry("OpenGLIsUnsafe", false))
         return i18n("<b>OpenGL compositing (the default) has crashed KWin in the past.</b><br>"
diff --git a/libkwineffects/kwineffects.cpp b/libkwineffects/kwineffects.cpp
index 135c9ae165..1737ceb554 100644
--- a/libkwineffects/kwineffects.cpp
+++ b/libkwineffects/kwineffects.cpp
@@ -271,8 +271,7 @@ void EffectsHandler::sendReloadMessage(const QString& effectname)
 
 KConfigGroup EffectsHandler::effectConfig(const QString& effectname)
 {
-    KSharedConfig::Ptr kwinconfig = KSharedConfig::openConfig("kwinrc", KConfig::NoGlobals);
-    return kwinconfig->group("Effect-" + effectname);
+    return KGlobal::config()->group("Effect-" + effectname);
 }
 
 EffectsHandler* effects = 0;
diff --git a/libkwineffects/kwinglutils.cpp b/libkwineffects/kwinglutils.cpp
index 3a7692f84e..016603bc7f 100644
--- a/libkwineffects/kwinglutils.cpp
+++ b/libkwineffects/kwinglutils.cpp
@@ -105,8 +105,7 @@ void initGL()
 #ifdef KWIN_HAVE_OPENGLES
     legacyGl = false;
 #else
-    KSharedConfig::Ptr kwinconfig = KSharedConfig::openConfig("kwinrc", KConfig::NoGlobals);
-    KConfigGroup config(kwinconfig, "Compositing");
+    KConfigGroup config(KGlobal::config(), "Compositing");
     legacyGl = config.readEntry<bool>("GLLegacy", false);
     glVersion = MAKE_GL_VERSION(glversioninfo[0].toInt(), glversioninfo[1].toInt(), glversioninfo[2].toInt());
 #endif
diff --git a/workspace.cpp b/workspace.cpp
index 5e1609ac2b..bc264d970d 100644
--- a/workspace.cpp
+++ b/workspace.cpp
@@ -1054,7 +1054,7 @@ void Workspace::slotReinitCompositing()
 {
     // Reparse config. Config options will be reloaded by setupCompositing()
     KGlobal::config()->reparseConfiguration();
-    const QString graphicsSystem = KConfigGroup(KSharedConfig::openConfig("kwinrc"), "Compositing").readEntry("GraphicsSystem", "");
+    const QString graphicsSystem = KConfigGroup(KGlobal::config(), "Compositing").readEntry("GraphicsSystem", "");
     if ((Extensions::nonNativePixmaps() && graphicsSystem == "native") ||
         (!Extensions::nonNativePixmaps() && (graphicsSystem == "raster" || graphicsSystem == "opengl")) ) {
         restartKWin("explicitly reconfigured graphicsSystem change");