diff --git a/assembly/src/release/bin/activemq b/assembly/src/release/bin/activemq
index 358204b726..c8d7f031d2 100755
--- a/assembly/src/release/bin/activemq
+++ b/assembly/src/release/bin/activemq
@@ -245,7 +245,7 @@ if [ -z "$JAVACMD" ] || [ "$JAVACMD" = "auto" ] ; then
 fi
 
 # Hm, we still do not know the location of the java binary
-if [ ! -x "$JAVACMD" ] ; then
+if [ -z "$JAVACMD" ] || [ "$JAVACMD" = "auto" ] || [ ! -x "$JAVACMD" ] ; then
     JAVACMD=`which java 2> /dev/null `
     if [ -z "$JAVACMD" ] ; then
         JAVACMD=java