diff --git a/server/Gemfile b/server/Gemfile
index 8fd06da70..5ce3074c9 100644
--- a/server/Gemfile
+++ b/server/Gemfile
@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@ gem 'rubyzip', '~> 2.3.0'
 gem 'tzinfo-data', '~>1.2021.1'
 
 # database modules
-
 gem 'mongoid', '7.2.1'
 #gem 'mongoid-paperclip' 
 # forked gem is neccessary as mongoid-paperclip relies on mimemagic which now requires freedesktop.org.xml at run time"
@@ -58,7 +57,8 @@ gem 'sass', '~> 3.7.4'
 gem 'sass-rails', '~> 6.0.0'
 gem 'sprockets-rails', '~> 3.2.2'
 gem 'uglifier', '~> 4.2.0'
-
+# mail => 2.8.0 has startup failures with rails 6.1.x series
+gem 'mail', '= 2.7.1'
 # don't try to install sassc 2.
 gem 'roo', '~> 2.8.3'
 gem 'sassc', '~> 2.4.0'
diff --git a/server/app/controllers/admin_controller.rb b/server/app/controllers/admin_controller.rb
index 1aef593c6..0d42cc258 100644
--- a/server/app/controllers/admin_controller.rb
+++ b/server/app/controllers/admin_controller.rb
@@ -37,11 +37,12 @@ class AdminController < ApplicationController
   def index
     require 'rubygems'
     @gems = Gem::Specification.all.map { |g| [g.name, g.version.to_s] }.sort
-    Rails.logger.debug "oscli version command: #{Utility::Oss.oscli_cmd} openstudio_version"
+    #use split.first to remove the --bundle stuff, see why below
+    Rails.logger.debug "oscli version command: #{Utility::Oss.oscli_cmd_no_bundle_args(Rails.logger)} openstudio_version"
     # syntax to explicitly unset a bunch of env vars is very different for windows
     # Use the default shell to query for OpenStudio version. Not neccessary to unset these. 
     #unset_vars = Gem.win_platform? || ENV['OS'] == 'Windows_NT' ? 'set ' + Utility::Oss::ENV_VARS_TO_UNSET_FOR_OSCLI.join('= && set ') : 'unset ' + Utility::Oss::ENV_VARS_TO_UNSET_FOR_OSCLI.join(' && unset ')
-    oscli_cmd = "#{Utility::Oss.oscli_cmd} openstudio_version"
+    oscli_cmd = "#{Utility::Oss.oscli_cmd_no_bundle_args(Rails.logger)} openstudio_version"
     oscli_cmd = "call #{oscli_cmd}" if Gem.win_platform? || ENV['OS'] == 'Windows_NT'
     Rails.logger.debug "oscli_cmd: #{oscli_cmd}"
     version = `#{oscli_cmd}`  #this will not work with --bundle args since user is 'nobody' and cannot create a tmpdir from $HOME
diff --git a/server/app/lib/utility/oss.rb b/server/app/lib/utility/oss.rb
index 9b809c371..a96c5b769 100644
--- a/server/app/lib/utility/oss.rb
+++ b/server/app/lib/utility/oss.rb
@@ -21,9 +21,11 @@ def self.oscli_cmd(logger = Rails.logger)
 
       raise 'OPENSTUDIO_EXE_PATH not set' unless ENV['OPENSTUDIO_EXE_PATH']
       raise "Unable to find file specified in OPENSTUDIO_EXE_PATH: `#{ENV['OPENSTUDIO_EXE_PATH']}`" unless File.exist?(ENV['OPENSTUDIO_EXE_PATH'])
-
+      logger.info "Found ENV['OPENSTUDIO_EXE_PATH']"
       # set cmd from ENV variable
-      cmd = ENV['OPENSTUDIO_EXE_PATH']
+      cmd = ENV['OPENSTUDIO_EXE_PATH'] + oscli_bundle
+      logger.info "Returning Oscli cmd: #{cmd}"
+      cmd
     rescue Exception => e
       logger.warn "Error finding Oscli: #{e}"
       cmd = Gem.win_platform? || ENV['OS'] == 'Windows_NT' ? 'openstudio.exe' : `which openstudio`.strip
@@ -32,9 +34,21 @@ def self.oscli_cmd(logger = Rails.logger)
       else
         logger.error 'Unable to find Oscli.'
       end
-      logger.info "Returning Oscli cmd: #{cmd + oscli_bundle}"
+      logger.info "RESCUE: Returning Oscli cmd: #{cmd + oscli_bundle}"
       cmd + oscli_bundle
     end
+    
+    def self.oscli_cmd_no_bundle_args(logger = Rails.logger)
+      # determine if an explicit oscli path has been set via the meta-cli option, warn if not
+
+      raise 'OPENSTUDIO_EXE_PATH not set' unless ENV['OPENSTUDIO_EXE_PATH']
+      raise "Unable to find file specified in OPENSTUDIO_EXE_PATH: `#{ENV['OPENSTUDIO_EXE_PATH']}`" unless File.exist?(ENV['OPENSTUDIO_EXE_PATH'])
+      logger.info "Found ENV['OPENSTUDIO_EXE_PATH'] in oscli_cmd_no_bundle_args"
+      # set cmd from ENV variable
+      cmd = ENV['OPENSTUDIO_EXE_PATH']
+      logger.info "Returning Oscli cmd: #{cmd}"
+      cmd
+    end
 
     # use bundle option only if we have a path to openstudio gemfile.
     # if BUNDLE_PATH is not set (ie Docker), we must add these options