diff --git a/jetty-start/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/start/StartLog.java b/jetty-start/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/start/StartLog.java
index e7acfa13c14..96ca01aa12a 100644
--- a/jetty-start/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/start/StartLog.java
+++ b/jetty-start/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/start/StartLog.java
@@ -114,6 +114,7 @@ public class StartLog
         if (logFileName != null)
         {
             Path logfile = baseHome.getPath(logFileName);
+            logfile = logfile.toAbsolutePath();
             initLogFile(logfile);
         }
     }