diff --git a/etc/ubuntu/init.d/maxscale.in b/etc/ubuntu/init.d/maxscale.in
index 1589bac32..dd16a0f1f 100755
--- a/etc/ubuntu/init.d/maxscale.in
+++ b/etc/ubuntu/init.d/maxscale.in
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ _RETVAL_STATUS_NOT_RUNNING=3
 #################################
 NAME=maxscale
 DAEMON=@CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX@/@MAXSCALE_BINDIR@/maxscale
-DAEMON_OPTS='"--user=maxscale" "$MAXSCALE_OPTIONS"'
+DAEMON_OPTS="--user=maxscale $MAXSCALE_OPTIONS"
 
 # Source function library.
 . /lib/lsb/init-functions
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ start() {
     chmod 0755 @MAXSCALE_VARDIR@/run/maxscale
 
         log_daemon_msg "Starting MaxScale"
-        start_daemon -p "$MAXSCALE_PIDFILE" "$DAEMON" "$DAEMON_OPTS" 2> /dev/null > /dev/null
+        start_daemon -p "$MAXSCALE_PIDFILE" $DAEMON $DAEMON_OPTS 2> /dev/null > /dev/null
 
         sleep 2