diff --git a/scripts/kconfig/confdata.c b/scripts/kconfig/confdata.c
index 42bc56e..59717be3 100644
--- a/scripts/kconfig/confdata.c
+++ b/scripts/kconfig/confdata.c
@@ -244,19 +244,21 @@ static int conf_set_sym_val(struct symbol *sym, int def, int def_flags, char *p)
 				     p, sym->name);
 		return 1;
 	case S_STRING:
-		if (*p++ != '"')
-			break;
-		for (p2 = p; (p2 = strpbrk(p2, "\"\\")); p2++) {
-			if (*p2 == '"') {
-				*p2 = 0;
+		/* No escaping for S_DEF_AUTO (include/config/auto.conf) */
+		if (def != S_DEF_AUTO) {
+			if (*p++ != '"')
 				break;
+			for (p2 = p; (p2 = strpbrk(p2, "\"\\")); p2++) {
+				if (*p2 == '"') {
+					*p2 = 0;
+					break;
+				}
+				memmove(p2, p2 + 1, strlen(p2));
 			}
-			memmove(p2, p2 + 1, strlen(p2));
-		}
-		if (!p2) {
-			if (def != S_DEF_AUTO)
+			if (!p2) {
 				conf_warning("invalid string found");
-			return 1;
+				return 1;
+			}
 		}
 		/* fall through */
 	case S_INT:
@@ -700,7 +702,7 @@ static void print_symbol_for_dotconfig(FILE *fp, struct symbol *sym)
 
 static void print_symbol_for_autoconf(FILE *fp, struct symbol *sym)
 {
-	__print_symbol(fp, sym, OUTPUT_N_NONE, true);
+	__print_symbol(fp, sym, OUTPUT_N_NONE, false);
 }
 
 void print_symbol_for_listconfig(struct symbol *sym)