diff --git a/src/sbatch/opt.c b/src/sbatch/opt.c
index 7101b7b4127a35968d502550bf61f2bc17a74a68..57cb0803c4ee94ffe02a085738ec25e723ede822 100644
--- a/src/sbatch/opt.c
+++ b/src/sbatch/opt.c
@@ -2145,7 +2145,7 @@ static bool _opt_verify(void)
 				      opt.overcommit, 0);
 
 	if ((opt.ntasks_per_node > 0) && (!opt.ntasks_set) &&
-	    (opt.max_nodes == 0)) {
+	    ((opt.max_nodes == 0) || (opt.min_nodes == opt.max_nodes))) {
 		opt.ntasks = opt.min_nodes * opt.ntasks_per_node;
 		opt.ntasks_set = 1;
 	}