diff -u b/core/modules/search/config/search.settings.yml b/core/modules/search/config/search.settings.yml
--- b/core/modules/search/config/search.settings.yml
+++ b/core/modules/search/config/search.settings.yml
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+active_modules:
+    - node
+    - user
+and_or_limit: '7'
+default_module: node
 index:
     cron_limit: '100'
     overlap_cjk: '1'
@@ -18,6 +22,0 @@
-search:
-    active_modules:
-        - node
-        - user
-    and_or_limit: '7'
-    default_module: node
diff -u b/core/modules/search/lib/Drupal/search/SearchQuery.php b/core/modules/search/lib/Drupal/search/SearchQuery.php
--- b/core/modules/search/lib/Drupal/search/SearchQuery.php
+++ b/core/modules/search/lib/Drupal/search/SearchQuery.php
@@ -203,7 +203,7 @@
     // Classify tokens.
     $or = FALSE;
     $warning = '';
-    $limit_combinations = config('search.settings')->get('search.and_or_limit');
+    $limit_combinations = config('search.settings')->get('and_or_limit');
     // The first search expression does not count as AND.
     $and_count = -1;
     $or_count = 0;
@@ -356,7 +356,7 @@
       return FALSE;
     }
     if ($this->expressionsIgnored) {
-      drupal_set_message(t('Your search used too many AND/OR expressions. Only the first @count terms were included in this search.', array('@count' => config('search.settings')->get('search.and_or_limit'))), 'warning');
+      drupal_set_message(t('Your search used too many AND/OR expressions. Only the first @count terms were included in this search.', array('@count' => config('search.settings')->get('and_or_limit'))), 'warning');
     }
     $this->executedFirstPass = TRUE;
 
diff -u b/core/modules/search/lib/Drupal/search/Tests/SearchKeywordsConditionsTest.php b/core/modules/search/lib/Drupal/search/Tests/SearchKeywordsConditionsTest.php
--- b/core/modules/search/lib/Drupal/search/Tests/SearchKeywordsConditionsTest.php
+++ b/core/modules/search/lib/Drupal/search/Tests/SearchKeywordsConditionsTest.php
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@
     // Login with sufficient privileges.
     $this->drupalLogin($this->searching_user);
     // Test with all search modules enabled.
-    config('search.settings')->set('search.active_modules', array('node' => 'node', 'user' => 'user', 'search_extra_type' => 'search_extra_type'))->save();
+    config('search.settings')->set('active_modules', array('node' => 'node', 'user' => 'user', 'search_extra_type' => 'search_extra_type'))->save();
     menu_router_rebuild();
   }
 
diff -u b/core/modules/search/lib/Drupal/search/Tests/SearchPageOverrideTest.php b/core/modules/search/lib/Drupal/search/Tests/SearchPageOverrideTest.php
--- b/core/modules/search/lib/Drupal/search/Tests/SearchPageOverrideTest.php
+++ b/core/modules/search/lib/Drupal/search/Tests/SearchPageOverrideTest.php
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@
     $this->drupalLogin($this->search_user);
 
     // Enable the extra type module for searching.
-    config('search.settings')->set('search.active_modules', array('node' => 'node', 'user' => 'user', 'search_extra_type' => 'search_extra_type'))->save();
+    config('search.settings')->set('active_modules', array('node' => 'node', 'user' => 'user', 'search_extra_type' => 'search_extra_type'))->save();
     menu_router_rebuild();
   }
 
diff -u b/core/modules/search/lib/Drupal/search/Tests/SearchPageTextTest.php b/core/modules/search/lib/Drupal/search/Tests/SearchPageTextTest.php
--- b/core/modules/search/lib/Drupal/search/Tests/SearchPageTextTest.php
+++ b/core/modules/search/lib/Drupal/search/Tests/SearchPageTextTest.php
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@
 
     // Test a search input exceeding the limit of AND/OR combinations to test
     // the Denial-of-Service protection.
-    $limit = config('search.settings')->get('search.and_or_limit');
+    $limit = config('search.settings')->get('and_or_limit');
     $keys = array();
     for ($i = 0; $i < $limit + 1; $i++) {
       $keys[] = $this->randomName(3);
diff -u b/core/modules/search/search.admin.inc b/core/modules/search/search.admin.inc
--- b/core/modules/search/search.admin.inc
+++ b/core/modules/search/search.admin.inc
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@
   // Collect some stats
   $remaining = 0;
   $total = 0;
-  foreach ($config->get('search.active_modules') as $module) {
+  foreach ($config->get('active_modules') as $module) {
     if ($status = module_invoke($module, 'search_status')) {
       $remaining += $status['remaining'];
       $total += $status['total'];
@@ -115,14 +115,14 @@
     '#type' => 'checkboxes',
     '#title' => t('Active modules'),
     '#title_display' => 'invisible',
-    '#default_value' => $config->get('search.active_modules'),
+    '#default_value' => $config->get('active_modules'),
     '#options' => $module_options,
     '#description' => t('Choose which search modules are active from the available modules.')
   );
   $form['active']['default_module'] = array(
     '#title' => t('Default search module'),
     '#type' => 'radios',
-    '#default_value' => $config->get('search.default_module'),
+    '#default_value' => $config->get('default_module'),
     '#options' => $module_options,
     '#description' => t('Choose which search module is the default.')
   );
@@ -130,7 +130,7 @@
   $form['#submit'][] = 'search_admin_settings_submit';
 
   // Per module settings
-  foreach ($config->get('search.active_modules') as $module) {
+  foreach ($config->get('active_modules') as $module) {
     $added_form = module_invoke($module, 'search_admin');
     if (is_array($added_form)) {
       $form = array_merge($form, $added_form);
@@ -167,7 +167,7 @@
     search_reindex();
   }
   $config->set('index.cron_limit', $form_state['values']['cron_limit']);
-  $config->set('search.default_module', $form_state['values']['default_module']);
+  $config->set('default_module', $form_state['values']['default_module']);
 
   // Check whether we are resetting the values.
   if ($form_state['triggering_element']['#value'] == t('Reset to defaults')) {
@@ -176,8 +176,8 @@
   else {
     $new_modules = array_filter($form_state['values']['active_modules']);
   }
-  if ($config->get('search.active_modules') != $new_modules) {
-    $config->set('search.active_modules', $new_modules);
+  if ($config->get('active_modules') != $new_modules) {
+    $config->set('active_modules', $new_modules);
     drupal_set_message(t('The active search modules have been changed.'));
     variable_set('menu_rebuild_needed', TRUE);
   }
diff -u b/core/modules/search/search.install b/core/modules/search/search.install
--- b/core/modules/search/search.install
+++ b/core/modules/search/search.install
@@ -157,7 +157,7 @@
    'search_cron_limit' => 'index.cron_limit',
    'search_tag_weights' => 'index.tag_weights',
-   'search_active_modules' => 'search.active_modules',
-   'search_and_or_limit' => 'search.and_or_limit',
-   'search_default_module' => 'search.default_module',
+   'search_active_modules' => 'active_modules',
+   'search_and_or_limit' => 'and_or_limit',
+   'search_default_module' => 'default_module',
   ));
 }
diff -u b/core/modules/search/search.module b/core/modules/search/search.module
--- b/core/modules/search/search.module
+++ b/core/modules/search/search.module
@@ -278,7 +278,7 @@
   }
 
   // Return only modules that are set to active in search settings.
-  return array_intersect_key($search_hooks, array_flip(config('search.settings')->get('search.active_modules')));
+  return array_intersect_key($search_hooks, array_flip(config('search.settings')->get('active_modules')));
 }
 
 /**
@@ -289,7 +289,7 @@
  */
 function search_get_default_module_info() {
   $info = search_get_info();
-  $default = config('search.settings')->get('search.default_module');
+  $default = config('search.settings')->get('default_module');
   if (isset($info[$default])) {
     return $info[$default];
   }
@@ -367,7 +367,7 @@
   // to date.
   drupal_register_shutdown_function('search_update_totals');
 
-  foreach (config('search.settings')->get('search.active_modules') as $module) {
+  foreach (config('search.settings')->get('active_modules') as $module) {
     // Update word index
     module_invoke($module, 'update_index');
   }