diff --git a/src/test/test-options.c b/src/test/test-options.c
index 21fb7a2d028..1e4a02ea036 100644
--- a/src/test/test-options.c
+++ b/src/test/test-options.c
@@ -196,6 +196,20 @@ TEST(option_parse) {
                               OPTION_PARSER_STOP_AT_FIRST_NONOPTION,
                               NULL);
 
+        test_option_parse_one(STRV_MAKE("arg0",
+                                        "string1",
+                                        "--help",
+                                        "string2"),
+                              options,
+                              (Entry[]) {
+                                      { "help" },
+                                      {}
+                              },
+                              STRV_MAKE("string1",
+                                        "string2"),
+                              OPTION_PARSER_NORMAL,
+                              NULL);
+
         test_option_parse_one(STRV_MAKE("arg0",
                                         "-h"),
                               options,
diff --git a/src/vmspawn/vmspawn.c b/src/vmspawn/vmspawn.c
index 9d90cbed924..f3501c3b665 100644
--- a/src/vmspawn/vmspawn.c
+++ b/src/vmspawn/vmspawn.c
@@ -344,7 +344,11 @@ static int parse_argv(int argc, char *argv[]) {
         assert(argc >= 0);
         assert(argv);
 
-        OptionParser opts = { argc, argv, OPTION_PARSER_STOP_AT_FIRST_NONOPTION };
+        /* Our positional arguments are kernel command line arguments rather than a command to
+         * execute, and those never begin with a dash, so there's no reason to stop looking for
+         * options at the first of them. "--" still ends option parsing, for the rare argument that
+         * does look like an option. */
+        OptionParser opts = { argc, argv };
 
         FOREACH_OPTION_OR_RETURN(c, &opts)
                 switch (c) {