diff --git a/jetty-start/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/start/Main.java b/jetty-start/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/start/Main.java
index 050730c834d..03c6d6611cd 100644
--- a/jetty-start/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/start/Main.java
+++ b/jetty-start/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/start/Main.java
@@ -579,7 +579,7 @@ public class Main
     private String resolveXmlConfig(String xmlFilename) throws FileNotFoundException
     {
         File xml = new File(xmlFilename);
-        if (xml.exists() && xml.isFile())
+        if (xml.exists() && xml.isFile() && xml.isAbsolute())
         {
             return xml.getAbsolutePath();
         }