diff --git a/cmd/k3s/main.go b/cmd/k3s/main.go
index 4f9f720356d1..1a8afe69f123 100644
--- a/cmd/k3s/main.go
+++ b/cmd/k3s/main.go
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/pkg/errors"
 	"github.com/rancher/wrangler/pkg/resolvehome"
 	"github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
+	"github.com/spf13/pflag"
 	"github.com/urfave/cli"
 )
 
@@ -101,29 +102,21 @@ func findDataDir() string {
 	return dataDir
 }
 
-// findPreferBundledBin searches for prefer-bundled-bin from the CLI args and config file.
+// findPreferBundledBin searches for prefer-bundled-bin from the config file, then CLI args.
+// we use pflag to process the args because we don't have a cli.Context yet
 func findPreferBundledBin(args []string) bool {
+	var preferBundledBin bool
+	fs := pflag.NewFlagSet("prefer-set", pflag.ContinueOnError)
+	fs.ParseErrorsWhitelist.UnknownFlags = true
+	fs.BoolVar(&preferBundledBin, "prefer-bundled-bin", false, "Prefer bundled binaries")
+
 	preferRes := configfilearg.MustFindString(args, "prefer-bundled-bin")
-	flagName := "--prefer-bundled-bin"
-	for i, arg := range args {
-		if flagName == arg {
-			if len(args) > i+1 {
-				if _, err := strconv.ParseBool(args[i+1]); err == nil {
-					preferRes = args[i+1]
-				}
-			} else {
-				//Naked flag, assume true
-				preferRes = "true"
-			}
-		} else if strings.HasPrefix(arg, flagName+"=") {
-			preferRes = arg[len(flagName)+1:]
-		}
+	if preferRes != "" {
+		preferBundledBin, _ = strconv.ParseBool(preferRes)
 	}
-	res, err := strconv.ParseBool(preferRes)
-	if err != nil {
-		return false
-	}
-	return res
+
+	fs.Parse(args)
+	return preferBundledBin
 }
 
 // runCLIs handles the case where the binary is being executed as a symlink alias,
diff --git a/cmd/k3s/main_test.go b/cmd/k3s/main_test.go
index c200257ec409..29e01dd84206 100644
--- a/cmd/k3s/main_test.go
+++ b/cmd/k3s/main_test.go
@@ -29,28 +29,23 @@ func Test_UnitFindPreferBundledBin(t *testing.T) {
 			want: false,
 		},
 		{
-			name: "Argument with space 1",
-			args: []string{"--prefer-bundled-bin", "1"},
+			name: "Argument with equal 1",
+			args: []string{"--prefer-bundled-bin=1"},
 			want: true,
 		},
 		{
-			name: "Argument with space 0",
-			args: []string{"--prefer-bundled-bin", "0"},
+			name: "Argument with equal 0",
+			args: []string{"--prefer-bundled-bin=0"},
 			want: false,
 		},
 		{
-			name: "Multiple arguments with space true",
-			args: []string{"--abcd", "--prefer-bundled-bin", "true", "--efgh"},
+			name: "Multiple arguments",
+			args: []string{"--abcd", "--prefer-bundled-bin", "--efgh"},
 			want: true,
 		},
-		{
-			name: "Multiple arguments with space false",
-			args: []string{"--abcd", "--prefer-bundled-bin", "false", "--efgh"},
-			want: false,
-		},
 		{
 			name: "Repeated arguments",
-			args: []string{"--abcd", "--prefer-bundled-bin", "false", "--prefer-bundled-bin"},
+			args: []string{"--abcd", "--prefer-bundled-bin=false", "--prefer-bundled-bin"},
 			want: true,
 		},
 	}