diff --git a/p2v/gui.c b/p2v/gui.c
index 625c6eb55..1eb64c9c4 100644
--- a/p2v/gui.c
+++ b/p2v/gui.c
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ static GtkWidget *run_dlg,
  * Note that gtk_init etc have already been called in main.
  */
 void
-gui_application (struct config *config)
+gui_conversion (struct config *config)
 {
   /* Create the dialogs. */
   create_connection_dialog (config);
diff --git a/p2v/kernel.c b/p2v/kernel.c
index 4e7fc9e06..173d7cb9a 100644
--- a/p2v/kernel.c
+++ b/p2v/kernel.c
@@ -41,18 +41,19 @@ static void notify_ui_callback (int type, const char *data);
 static void run_command (int verbose, const char *stage, const char *command);
 
 void
-kernel_configuration (struct config *config, char **cmdline, int cmdline_source)
+update_config_from_kernel_cmdline (struct config *config, char **cmdline)
 {
   const char *p;
 
-  p = get_cmdline_key (cmdline, "p2v.pre");
+  p = get_cmdline_key (cmdline, "p2v.debug");
   if (p)
-    run_command (config->verbose, "p2v.pre", p);
+    config->verbose = 1;
 
   p = get_cmdline_key (cmdline, "p2v.server");
-  assert (p); /* checked by caller */
-  free (config->server);
-  config->server = strdup (p);
+  if (p) {
+    free (config->server);
+    config->server = strdup (p);
+  }
 
   p = get_cmdline_key (cmdline, "p2v.port");
   if (p) {
@@ -84,21 +85,6 @@ kernel_configuration (struct config *config, char **cmdline, int cmdline_source)
   if (p)
     config->sudo = 1;
 
-  /* We should now be able to connect and interrogate virt-v2v
-   * on the conversion server.
-   */
-  p = get_cmdline_key (cmdline, "p2v.skip_test_connection");
-  if (!p) {
-    wait_network_online (config);
-    if (test_connection (config) == -1) {
-      const char *err = get_ssh_error ();
-
-      error (EXIT_FAILURE, 0,
-             "error opening control connection to %s:%d: %s",
-             config->server, config->port, err);
-    }
-  }
-
   p = get_cmdline_key (cmdline, "p2v.name");
   if (p) {
     free (config->guestname);
@@ -202,12 +188,39 @@ kernel_configuration (struct config *config, char **cmdline, int cmdline_source)
     config->output_storage = strdup (p);
   }
 
-  /* Undocumented command line tool used for testing command line parsing. */
+  /* Undocumented command line parameter used for testing command line
+   * parsing.
+   */
   p = get_cmdline_key (cmdline, "p2v.dump_config_and_exit");
   if (p) {
     print_config (config, stdout);
     exit (EXIT_SUCCESS);
   }
+}
+
+/* Perform conversion using the kernel method. */
+void
+kernel_conversion (struct config *config, char **cmdline, int cmdline_source)
+{
+  const char *p;
+
+  /* Pre-conversion command. */
+  p = get_cmdline_key (cmdline, "p2v.pre");
+  if (p)
+    run_command (config->verbose, "p2v.pre", p);
+
+  /* Connect to and interrogate virt-v2v on the conversion server. */
+  p = get_cmdline_key (cmdline, "p2v.skip_test_connection");
+  if (!p) {
+    wait_network_online (config);
+    if (test_connection (config) == -1) {
+      const char *err = get_ssh_error ();
+
+      error (EXIT_FAILURE, 0,
+             "error opening control connection to %s:%d: %s",
+             config->server, config->port, err);
+    }
+  }
 
   /* Some disks must have been specified for conversion. */
   if (config->disks == NULL || guestfs_int_count_strings (config->disks) == 0)
diff --git a/p2v/main.c b/p2v/main.c
index 34cbd4d44..34db5123a 100644
--- a/p2v/main.c
+++ b/p2v/main.c
@@ -178,30 +178,31 @@ main (int argc, char *argv[])
 
   set_config_defaults (config);
 
-  /* If /proc/cmdline exists and contains "p2v.server=" then we enable
-   * non-interactive configuration.
-   * If /proc/cmdline contains p2v.debug then we enable verbose mode
-   * even for interactive configuration.
+  /* Parse /proc/cmdline (if it exists) or use the --cmdline parameter
+   * to initialize the configuration.  This allows defaults to be pass
+   * using the kernel command line, with additional GUI configuration
+   * later.
    */
   if (cmdline == NULL) {
     cmdline = parse_proc_cmdline ();
-    if (cmdline == NULL)
-      goto gui;
-    cmdline_source = CMDLINE_SOURCE_PROC_CMDLINE;
+    if (cmdline != NULL)
+      cmdline_source = CMDLINE_SOURCE_PROC_CMDLINE;
   }
 
-  if (get_cmdline_key (cmdline, "p2v.debug") != NULL)
-    config->verbose = 1;
+  if (cmdline)
+    update_config_from_kernel_cmdline (config, cmdline);
 
-  if (get_cmdline_key (cmdline, "p2v.server") != NULL)
-    kernel_configuration (config, cmdline, cmdline_source);
+  /* If p2v.server exists, then we use the non-interactive kernel
+   * conversion.  Otherwise we run the GUI.
+   */
+  if (config->server != NULL)
+    kernel_conversion (config, cmdline, cmdline_source);
   else {
-  gui:
     if (!gui_possible)
       error (EXIT_FAILURE, 0,
              _("gtk_init_check returned false, indicating that\n"
                "a GUI is not possible on this host.  Check X11, $DISPLAY etc."));
-    gui_application (config);
+    gui_conversion (config);
   }
 
   guestfs_int_free_string_list (cmdline);
diff --git a/p2v/p2v.h b/p2v/p2v.h
index 0123da85b..fb3771fc6 100644
--- a/p2v/p2v.h
+++ b/p2v/p2v.h
@@ -100,10 +100,11 @@ extern const char *get_cmdline_key (char **cmdline, const char *key);
 #define CMDLINE_SOURCE_PROC_CMDLINE 2 /* /proc/cmdline */
 
 /* kernel.c */
-extern void kernel_configuration (struct config *, char **cmdline, int cmdline_source);
+extern void update_config_from_kernel_cmdline (struct config *config, char **cmdline);
+extern void kernel_conversion (struct config *, char **cmdline, int cmdline_source);
 
 /* gui.c */
-extern void gui_application (struct config *);
+extern void gui_conversion (struct config *);
 
 /* conversion.c */
 extern int start_conversion (struct config *, void (*notify_ui) (int type, const char *data));
diff --git a/p2v/test-virt-p2v-cmdline.sh b/p2v/test-virt-p2v-cmdline.sh
index bdd51d386..9629a05ea 100755
--- a/p2v/test-virt-p2v-cmdline.sh
+++ b/p2v/test-virt-p2v-cmdline.sh
@@ -31,14 +31,12 @@ out=test-virt-p2v-cmdline.out
 rm -f $out
 
 # The Linux kernel command line.
-virt-p2v --cmdline='p2v.pre="echo 1 2 3" p2v.server=localhost p2v.port=123 p2v.username=user p2v.password=secret p2v.skip_test_connection p2v.name=test p2v.vcpus=4 p2v.memory=1G p2v.disks=sda,sdb,sdc p2v.removable=sdd p2v.interfaces=eth0,eth1 p2v.o=local p2v.oa=sparse p2v.oc=qemu:///session p2v.of=raw p2v.os=/var/tmp p2v.network=em1:wired,other p2v.dump_config_and_exit' > $out
+virt-p2v --cmdline='p2v.server=localhost p2v.port=123 p2v.username=user p2v.password=secret p2v.skip_test_connection p2v.name=test p2v.vcpus=4 p2v.memory=1G p2v.disks=sda,sdb,sdc p2v.removable=sdd p2v.interfaces=eth0,eth1 p2v.o=local p2v.oa=sparse p2v.oc=qemu:///session p2v.of=raw p2v.os=/var/tmp p2v.network=em1:wired,other p2v.dump_config_and_exit' > $out
 
 # For debugging purposes.
 cat $out
 
 # Check the output contains what we expect.
-grep "^echo 1 2 3" $out
-grep "^1 2 3" $out
 grep "^conversion server.*localhost" $out
 grep "^port.*123" $out
 grep "^username.*user" $out