diff --git a/arch/x86_64/kernel/early_printk.c b/arch/x86_64/kernel/early_printk.c
index e22ecd54870d8e818dc0bc2563a8194a7699def2..47b6d90349da905f226709aaf29c9ff48e501741 100644
--- a/arch/x86_64/kernel/early_printk.c
+++ b/arch/x86_64/kernel/early_printk.c
@@ -224,7 +224,7 @@ static int __init setup_early_printk(char *buf)
 		return 0;
 	early_console_initialized = 1;
 
-	if (!strcmp(buf,"keep"))
+	if (strstr(buf, "keep"))
 		keep_early = 1;
 
 	if (!strncmp(buf, "serial", 6)) {