diff --git a/routers/api/v1/repo/repo.go b/routers/api/v1/repo/repo.go
index 3d638cb05e029..787ca2672dbe6 100644
--- a/routers/api/v1/repo/repo.go
+++ b/routers/api/v1/repo/repo.go
@@ -735,14 +735,14 @@ func updateBasicProperties(ctx *context.APIContext, opts api.EditRepoOption) err
 	// Default branch only updated if changed and exist or the repository is empty
 	updateRepoLicense := false
 	if opts.DefaultBranch != nil && repo.DefaultBranch != *opts.DefaultBranch && (repo.IsEmpty || gitrepo.IsBranchExist(ctx, ctx.Repo.Repository, *opts.DefaultBranch)) {
+		repo.DefaultBranch = *opts.DefaultBranch
 		if !repo.IsEmpty {
-			if err := gitrepo.SetDefaultBranch(ctx, ctx.Repo.Repository, *opts.DefaultBranch); err != nil {
+			if err := gitrepo.SetDefaultBranch(ctx, repo, repo.DefaultBranch); err != nil {
 				ctx.APIErrorInternal(err)
 				return err
 			}
 			updateRepoLicense = true
 		}
-		repo.DefaultBranch = *opts.DefaultBranch
 	}
 
 	if err := repo_service.UpdateRepository(ctx, repo, visibilityChanged); err != nil {
diff --git a/services/wiki/wiki.go b/services/wiki/wiki.go
index b21f46639dc99..4cc372c70db6b 100644
--- a/services/wiki/wiki.go
+++ b/services/wiki/wiki.go
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ func InitWiki(ctx context.Context, repo *repo_model.Repository) error {
 		return fmt.Errorf("InitRepository: %w", err)
 	} else if err = gitrepo.CreateDelegateHooks(ctx, repo.WikiStorageRepo()); err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("createDelegateHooks: %w", err)
-	} else if _, _, err = git.NewCommand("symbolic-ref", "HEAD").AddDynamicArguments(git.BranchPrefix+repo.DefaultWikiBranch).RunStdString(ctx, &git.RunOpts{Dir: repo.WikiPath()}); err != nil {
+	} else if err = gitrepo.SetDefaultBranch(ctx, repo.WikiStorageRepo(), repo.DefaultWikiBranch); err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("unable to set default wiki branch to %q: %w", repo.DefaultWikiBranch, err)
 	}
 	return nil