diff --git a/src/slurmctld/controller.c b/src/slurmctld/controller.c
index 43d08bbebf66b04c09515e77382358eb2e6a1314..6c240c3955b42afe5fb070cec6e01cf7a75287a6 100644
--- a/src/slurmctld/controller.c
+++ b/src/slurmctld/controller.c
@@ -924,7 +924,8 @@ void update_logging(void)
 		log_opts.stderr_level = LOG_LEVEL_QUIET;
 		if (slurmctld_conf.slurmctld_logfile)
 			log_opts.syslog_level = LOG_LEVEL_QUIET;
-	}
+	} else
+		log_opts.syslog_level = LOG_LEVEL_QUIET;
 
 	log_alter(log_opts, SYSLOG_FACILITY_DAEMON,
 		  slurmctld_conf.slurmctld_logfile);