diff --git a/tests/t_server_null_default.rc b/tests/t_server_null_default.rc
index 365b5a8b..41ec591c 100755
--- a/tests/t_server_null_default.rc
+++ b/tests/t_server_null_default.rc
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ SERVER_KILL_FAIL_FILE=".t_server_null_server.kill_failed"
 MAX_CLIENTS="10"
 CLIENT_MATCH="Test-Client"
 SERVER_EXEC="${top_builddir}/src/openvpn/openvpn"
-SERVER_BASE_OPTS="--daemon --local 127.0.0.1 --dev tun --topology subnet --max-clients $MAX_CLIENTS --persist-tun --verb 3 --duplicate-cn"
+SERVER_BASE_OPTS="--local 127.0.0.1 --dev tun --topology subnet --max-clients $MAX_CLIENTS --persist-tun --verb 3 --duplicate-cn"
 SERVER_CIPHER_OPTS=""
 SERVER_CERT_OPTS="--ca ${CA} --cert ${SERVER_CERT} --key ${SERVER_KEY} --tls-auth ${TA} 0"
 SERVER_CONF_BASE="${SERVER_BASE_OPTS} ${SERVER_CIPHER_OPTS} ${SERVER_CERT_OPTS}"
diff --git a/tests/t_server_null_server.sh b/tests/t_server_null_server.sh
index acf8479e..65b7d56a 100755
--- a/tests/t_server_null_server.sh
+++ b/tests/t_server_null_server.sh
@@ -11,20 +11,18 @@ launch_server() {
     # Allow reading this file even umask values are strict
     touch "$log"
 
-    if [ -z "${RUN_SUDO}" ]; then
-        "${server_exec}" \
-         $server_conf \
-         --status "${status}" 1 \
-         --log "${log}" \
-         --writepid "${pid}" \
-         --explicit-exit-notify 3
-    else
-        $RUN_SUDO "${server_exec}" \
-                   $server_conf \
-                   --status "${status}" 1 \
-                   --log "${log}" \
-                   --writepid "${pid}" \
-                   --explicit-exit-notify 3
+    # Try to launch the server
+    $RUN_SUDO "${server_exec}" \
+               $server_conf \
+               --status "${status}" 1 \
+               --writepid "${pid}" \
+               --explicit-exit-notify 3 > "$log" 2>&1 &
+
+    sleep 1
+
+    if ! [ -r "$pid" ] || [ -z "$pid" ]; then
+        echo "ERROR: failed to start server $server_name"
+        tail -n 20 "$log"
     fi
 }