diff --git a/base_classes/NXroot.nxdl.xml b/base_classes/NXroot.nxdl.xml
index b71fdd305..a2e2393a6 100644
--- a/base_classes/NXroot.nxdl.xml
+++ b/base_classes/NXroot.nxdl.xml
@@ -25,18 +25,16 @@
     xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
     xsi:schemaLocation="http://definition.nexusformat.org/nxdl/3.1 ../nxdl.xsd"
     name="NXroot"
-    type="group" extends="NXobject">
-    <doc>Definition of the root NeXus group.</doc>
-    <attribute name="NX_class">
-        <doc>
-            The root of any NeXus data file is an ``NXroot`` class
-            (no other choice is allowed for a valid NeXus data file).
-            This attribute cements that definition.
-        </doc>
-        <enumeration>
-            <item value="NXroot"></item>
-        </enumeration>
-    </attribute>
+    type="group">
+    <doc>
+        The root of a NeXus file.
+
+        In the NeXus standard, only NXentry groups are allowed at the root
+        level of a file, although it is permitted to include additional groups
+        and fields that are not part of the NeXus standard and will not be
+        validated by NeXus tools. NeXus defines a number of root-level
+        attributes that can be used to annotate the NeXus tree.
+    </doc>
     <attribute name="file_time" type="NX_DATE_TIME">
         <doc>Date and time file was originally created</doc>
     </attribute>