diff --git a/src/salloc/opt.c b/src/salloc/opt.c
index 508ce75c1a1849c8f38bc61b6b0621224c904bb3..314e56910e17c83e48a9f7fe129099a8ad599d1f 100644
--- a/src/salloc/opt.c
+++ b/src/salloc/opt.c
@@ -289,7 +289,7 @@ static void _opt_default()
 	opt.sockets_per_node = NO_VAL; /* requested sockets */
 	opt.cores_per_socket = NO_VAL; /* requested cores */
 	opt.threads_per_core = NO_VAL; /* requested threads */
-	opt.ntasks_per_node      = NO_VAL; /* ntask max limits */
+	opt.ntasks_per_node      = 0;  /* ntask max limits */
 	opt.ntasks_per_socket    = NO_VAL;
 	opt.ntasks_per_core      = NO_VAL;
 	opt.cpu_bind_type = 0;
@@ -1226,7 +1226,7 @@ static bool _opt_verify(void)
 		verified = false;
 	}
 
-	if ((opt.ntasks_per_node > -1) && (!opt.ntasks_set)) {
+	if ((opt.ntasks_per_node > 0) && (!opt.ntasks_set)) {
 		opt.ntasks = opt.min_nodes * opt.ntasks_per_node;
 		opt.ntasks_set = 1;
 	}
@@ -1482,7 +1482,7 @@ static bool _opt_verify(void)
 			setenvf(NULL, "SLURM_MEM_BIND", "%s", tmp);
 		}
 	}
-	if ((opt.ntasks_per_node != NO_VAL) &&
+	if ((opt.ntasks_per_node > 0) &&
 	    (getenv("SLURM_NTASKS_PER_NODE") == NULL)) {
 		setenvf(NULL, "SLURM_NTASKS_PER_NODE", "%d",
 			opt.ntasks_per_node);
diff --git a/src/salloc/salloc.c b/src/salloc/salloc.c
index 02121602380ae19cc33de8b8c3cd68a3a730ddf6..dc8c529b450f302218c35d16668e9c8fca789a6e 100644
--- a/src/salloc/salloc.c
+++ b/src/salloc/salloc.c
@@ -581,7 +581,7 @@ static int _fill_job_desc_from_opts(job_desc_msg_t *desc)
 		desc->num_tasks = opt.ntasks;
 	if (opt.cpus_set)
 		desc->cpus_per_task = opt.cpus_per_task;
-	if (opt.ntasks_per_node > -1)
+	if (opt.ntasks_per_node)
 		desc->ntasks_per_node = opt.ntasks_per_node;
 	if (opt.ntasks_per_socket > -1)
 		desc->ntasks_per_socket = opt.ntasks_per_socket;
diff --git a/src/sbatch/opt.c b/src/sbatch/opt.c
index fb54cb4000b27a414dcdfb071fc79e9ec83233aa..944f5ce7227f0bf2a6e0805a060e05167f5c5b5c 100644
--- a/src/sbatch/opt.c
+++ b/src/sbatch/opt.c
@@ -299,7 +299,7 @@ static void _opt_default()
 	opt.sockets_per_node = NO_VAL; /* requested sockets */
 	opt.cores_per_socket = NO_VAL; /* requested cores */
 	opt.threads_per_core = NO_VAL; /* requested threads */
-	opt.ntasks_per_node      = 0;      /* ntask max limits */
+	opt.ntasks_per_node      = 0;  /* ntask max limits */
 	opt.ntasks_per_socket    = NO_VAL;
 	opt.ntasks_per_core      = NO_VAL;
 	opt.cpu_bind_type = 0;