diff --git a/priv/templates/simplenode.runner b/priv/templates/simplenode.runner
index a2cdd79..4b1efa2 100755
--- a/priv/templates/simplenode.runner
+++ b/priv/templates/simplenode.runner
@@ -23,14 +23,14 @@ cd $RUNNER_BASE_DIR
 mkdir -p $RUNNER_LOG_DIR
 
 # Extract the target node name from node.args
-NAME_ARG=`grep -e '-[s]*name' $RUNNER_ETC_DIR/vm.args`
+NAME_ARG=`egrep -e '^-s?name' $RUNNER_ETC_DIR/vm.args`
 if [ -z "$NAME_ARG" ]; then
     echo "vm.args needs to have either -name or -sname parameter."
     exit 1
 fi
 
 # Extract the target cookie
-COOKIE_ARG=`grep -e '-setcookie' $RUNNER_ETC_DIR/vm.args`
+COOKIE_ARG=`grep -e '^-setcookie' $RUNNER_ETC_DIR/vm.args`
 if [ -z "$COOKIE_ARG" ]; then
     echo "vm.args needs to have a -setcookie parameter."
     exit 1