diff --git a/dev-tools/build_release.py b/dev-tools/build_release.py
index a488a1634c9..6a4c9fb0a5a 100644
--- a/dev-tools/build_release.py
+++ b/dev-tools/build_release.py
@@ -344,7 +344,7 @@ def smoke_test_release(release, files, expected_hash):
     es_run_path = os.path.join(tmp_dir, 'elasticsearch-%s' % (release), 'bin/elasticsearch')
     print('  Smoke testing package [%s]' % release_file)
     print('  Starting elasticsearch deamon from [%s]' % os.path.join(tmp_dir, 'elasticsearch-%s' % release))
-    run('%s; %s -Des.node.name=smoke_tester -Des.cluster.name=prepare_release -Des.discovery.zen.ping.multicast.enabled=false'
+    run('%s; %s -Des.node.name=smoke_tester -Des.cluster.name=prepare_release -Des.discovery.zen.ping.multicast.enabled=false -d'
          % (java_exe(), es_run_path))
     conn = HTTPConnection('127.0.0.1', 9200, 20);
     wait_for_node_startup()
@@ -530,4 +530,4 @@ if __name__ == '__main__':
       # we delete this one anyways
       run('git branch -D %s' %  (release_branch(release_version)))
   if smoke_test_version:
-    download_and_verify(smoke_test_version, artifact_names(smoke_test_version))
\ No newline at end of file
+    download_and_verify(smoke_test_version, artifact_names(smoke_test_version))