diff --git a/IPython/html/base/handlers.py b/IPython/html/base/handlers.py
index 092ca0a..7dc6252 100644
--- a/IPython/html/base/handlers.py
+++ b/IPython/html/base/handlers.py
@@ -139,7 +139,7 @@ class IPythonHandler(AuthenticatedHandler):
@property
def default_url(self):
- return self.settings.get('default_url', '/')
+ return self.settings.get('default_url', '')
@property
def ws_url(self):