diff -wu b/core/modules/system/system.install b/core/modules/system/system.install
--- b/core/modules/system/system.install
+++ b/core/modules/system/system.install
@@ -648,12 +648,20 @@
     }
   }
 
-  // Check if xdebug.max_nesting_level is too low, as it crashes some pages.
-  $xdebug_nesting_level = 256;
-  if (extension_loaded('xdebug') && ini_get('xdebug.max_nesting_level') < $xdebug_nesting_level) {
-    // Report on where the correct ini file is to the user.
+  // Check xdebug.max_nesting_level, as some pages will not work if it is too
+  // low.
+  if (extension_loaded('xdebug')) {
+    // Setting this value to 256 was considered adequate on Xdebug 2.3
+    // (see http://bugs.xdebug.org/bug_view_page.php?bug_id=00001100)
+    $minimum_nesting_level = 256;
+    $current_nesting_level = ini_get('xdebug.max_nesting_level');
+
+    if ($current_nesting_level < $minimum_nesting_level) {
+      // Locate the correct ini file for Xdebug.
     $ini_scanned_files = php_ini_scanned_files();
     $ini_location = php_ini_loaded_file();
+      // If there is a specific ini file for Xdebug, recommend that in place of
+      // the loaded ini file.
     if ($ini_scanned_files !== FALSE) {
       $ini_files = explode(',', $ini_scanned_files);
       foreach ($ini_files as $value) {
@@ -664,18 +672,19 @@
       }
     }
 
-    $description = t('A max_nesting_level lower than @level will cause some pages in your Drupal site to crash. To fix this it is recommended to set xdebug.max_nesting_level=@level in your PHP configuration for Xdebug.', array('@level' => $xdebug_nesting_level));
+      $description = t('Set xdebug_.max_nesting_level=@level in your PHP configuration as some pages in your Drupal site will not work when this setting is too low.', array('@level' => $minimum_nesting_level));
     if ($ini_location !== FALSE) {
       $description .= ' ' . t('Your Xdebug configuration can be modified in @ini_location.', array('@ini_location' => $ini_location));
     }
 
     $requirements['xdebug_max_nesting_level'] = array(
       'title' => t('Xdebug settings'),
-      'value' => t('xdebug.max_nesting_level is set to %value.', array('%value' => ini_get('xdebug.max_nesting_level'))),
+        'value' => t('xdebug.max_nesting_level is set to %value.', array('%value' => $current_nesting_level)),
       'description' => $description,
       'severity' => REQUIREMENT_ERROR,
     );
   }
+  }
 
   return $requirements;
 }