diff --git a/phpBB/includes/acp/acp_search.php b/phpBB/includes/acp/acp_search.php
index f03439d265..a2f3b97186 100644
--- a/phpBB/includes/acp/acp_search.php
+++ b/phpBB/includes/acp/acp_search.php
@@ -274,8 +274,6 @@ class acp_search
 
 			$this->max_post_id = $this->get_max_post_id();
 
-			$post_counter = (isset($this->state[2])) ? $this->state[2] : 0;
-			$this->state[2] = &$post_counter;
 			$this->save_state();
 
 			switch ($action)
diff --git a/phpBB/phpbb/search/backend/fulltext_native.php b/phpBB/phpbb/search/backend/fulltext_native.php
index 7341c77ba1..538498f3b6 100644
--- a/phpBB/phpbb/search/backend/fulltext_native.php
+++ b/phpBB/phpbb/search/backend/fulltext_native.php
@@ -1687,7 +1687,8 @@ class fulltext_native extends base implements search_backend_interface
 
 		$starttime = microtime(true);
 		$row_count = 0;
-		$post_counter = $acp_module->state[2];
+
+		$post_counter = &$acp_module->state[2];
 		while (still_on_time() && $post_counter <= $acp_module->max_post_id)
 		{
 			$sql = 'SELECT post_id, post_subject, post_text, poster_id, forum_id
@@ -1723,6 +1724,7 @@ class fulltext_native extends base implements search_backend_interface
 
 			$post_counter += $acp_module->batch_size;
 		}
+
 		// save the current state
 		$acp_module->save_state();