diff --git a/hadoop-hdds/server-scm/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdds/scm/server/StorageContainerManager.java b/hadoop-hdds/server-scm/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdds/scm/server/StorageContainerManager.java
index efd5fc5be8..ce2725f100 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdds/server-scm/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdds/scm/server/StorageContainerManager.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdds/server-scm/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdds/scm/server/StorageContainerManager.java
@@ -513,7 +513,7 @@ public static boolean scmInit(OzoneConfiguration conf) throws IOException {
 
   private static StartupOption parseArguments(String[] args) {
     int argsLen = (args == null) ? 0 : args.length;
-    StartupOption startOpt = StartupOption.HELP;
+    StartupOption startOpt = null;
     if (argsLen == 0) {
       startOpt = StartupOption.REGULAR;
     }