diff --git a/box.js b/box.js
index 9ee296ddc..d8de086dc 100755
--- a/box.js
+++ b/box.js
@@ -3,46 +3,57 @@
 'use strict';
 
 let async = require('async'),
-    constants = require('./src/constants.js'),
-    debug = require('debug')('box:box'),
     dockerProxy = require('./src/dockerproxy.js'),
+    fs = require('fs'),
     ldap = require('./src/ldap.js'),
-    server = require('./src/server.js');
+    paths = require('./src/paths.js'),
+    server = require('./src/server.js'),
+    util = require('util');
 
-debug();
-debug('==========================================');
-debug(`           Cloudron ${constants.VERSION}  `);
-debug('==========================================');
-debug();
+const NOOP_CALLBACK = function () { };
+
+function setupLogging(callback) {
+    fs.open(paths.BOX_LOG_FILE, 'a', function (error, fd) {
+        if (error) return callback(error);
+
+        require('debug').log = function (...args) {
+            fs.appendFileSync(fd, (args.length ? util.format(...args) : '') + '\n');
+        };
+
+        callback();
+    });
+}
 
 async.series([
+    setupLogging,
     server.start,
     ldap.start,
     dockerProxy.start
 ], function (error) {
     if (error) {
-        debug('Error starting server', error);
+        console.log('Error starting server', error);
         process.exit(1);
     }
-    debug('Cloudron is up and running');
-});
-
-var NOOP_CALLBACK = function () { };
-
-process.on('SIGINT', function () {
-    debug('Received SIGINT. Shutting down.');
-
-    server.stop(NOOP_CALLBACK);
-    ldap.stop(NOOP_CALLBACK);
-    dockerProxy.stop(NOOP_CALLBACK);
-    setTimeout(process.exit.bind(process), 3000);
-});
-
-process.on('SIGTERM', function () {
-    debug('Received SIGTERM. Shutting down.');
-
-    server.stop(NOOP_CALLBACK);
-    ldap.stop(NOOP_CALLBACK);
-    dockerProxy.stop(NOOP_CALLBACK);
-    setTimeout(process.exit.bind(process), 3000);
+
+    const debug = require('debug')('box:box'); // require this here so that logging handler is already setup
+
+    process.on('SIGINT', function () {
+        debug('Received SIGINT. Shutting down.');
+
+        server.stop(NOOP_CALLBACK);
+        ldap.stop(NOOP_CALLBACK);
+        dockerProxy.stop(NOOP_CALLBACK);
+        setTimeout(process.exit.bind(process), 3000);
+    });
+
+    process.on('SIGTERM', function () {
+        debug('Received SIGTERM. Shutting down.');
+
+        server.stop(NOOP_CALLBACK);
+        ldap.stop(NOOP_CALLBACK);
+        dockerProxy.stop(NOOP_CALLBACK);
+        setTimeout(process.exit.bind(process), 3000);
+    });
+
+    console.log(`Cloudron is up and running. Logs are at ${paths.BOX_LOG_FILE}`); // this goes to journalctl
 });
diff --git a/setup/start/systemd/box.service b/setup/start/systemd/box.service
index 180051af4..8a1d23265 100644
--- a/setup/start/systemd/box.service
+++ b/setup/start/systemd/box.service
@@ -14,8 +14,7 @@ WantedBy=multi-user.target
 Type=idle
 WorkingDirectory=/home/yellowtent/box
 Restart=always
-; Systemd does not append logs when logging to files, we spawn a shell first and exec to replace it after setting up the pipes
-ExecStart=/bin/sh -c 'echo "Logging to /home/yellowtent/platformdata/logs/box.log"; exec /usr/bin/node /home/yellowtent/box/box.js >> /home/yellowtent/platformdata/logs/box.log 2>&1'
+ExecStart=/home/yellowtent/box/box.js
 Environment="HOME=/home/yellowtent" "USER=yellowtent" "DEBUG=box:*,connect-lastmile,-box:ldap" "BOX_ENV=cloudron" "NODE_ENV=production"
 ; kill apptask processes as well
 KillMode=control-group
diff --git a/src/paths.js b/src/paths.js
index 6761f98ad..5d99d0612 100644
--- a/src/paths.js
+++ b/src/paths.js
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@ exports = module.exports = {
     LOG_DIR: path.join(baseDir(), 'platformdata/logs'),
     TASKS_LOG_DIR: path.join(baseDir(), 'platformdata/logs/tasks'),
     CRASH_LOG_DIR: path.join(baseDir(), 'platformdata/logs/crash'),
+    BOX_LOG_FILE: path.join(baseDir(), 'platformdata/logs/box.log'),
 
     GHOST_USER_FILE: path.join(baseDir(), 'platformdata/cloudron_ghost.json'),
 
diff --git a/src/server.js b/src/server.js
index a0f800e23..49250066a 100644
--- a/src/server.js
+++ b/src/server.js
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ let assert = require('assert'),
     cloudron = require('./cloudron.js'),
     constants = require('./constants.js'),
     database = require('./database.js'),
+    debug = require('debug')('box:server'),
     eventlog = require('./eventlog.js'),
     express = require('express'),
     http = require('http'),
@@ -332,6 +333,12 @@ function start(callback) {
     assert.strictEqual(typeof callback, 'function');
     assert.strictEqual(gHttpServer, null, 'Server is already up and running.');
 
+    debug();
+    debug('==========================================');
+    debug(`           Cloudron ${constants.VERSION}  `);
+    debug('==========================================');
+    debug();
+
     gHttpServer = initializeExpressSync();
 
     async.series([