diff --git a/box.js b/box.js
index 68e235933..3192294e8 100755
--- a/box.js
+++ b/box.js
@@ -2,12 +2,16 @@
 
 'use strict';
 
-require('supererror')({ splatchError: true });
+// prefix all output with a timestamp
+// debug() already prefixes and uses process.stderr NOT console.*
+['log', 'info', 'warn', 'debug', 'error'].forEach(function (log) {
+    var orig = console[log];
+    console[log] = function () {
+        orig.apply(console, [new Date().toISOString()].concat(Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments)));
+    };
+});
 
-// remove timestamp from debug() based output
-require('debug').formatArgs = function formatArgs(args) {
-    args[0] = this.namespace + ' ' + args[0];
-};
+require('supererror')({ splatchError: true });
 
 let async = require('async'),
     config = require('./src/config.js'),
diff --git a/setup/start/systemd/box.service b/setup/start/systemd/box.service
index f6672d410..98606f043 100644
--- a/setup/start/systemd/box.service
+++ b/setup/start/systemd/box.service
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ 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 'exec /usr/bin/node --max_old_space_size=150 /home/yellowtent/box/box.js >> /home/yellowtent/platformdata/logs/box.log 2>&1'
+ExecStart=/bin/sh -c 'echo "Logging to /home/yellowtent/platformdata/logs/box.log"; exec /usr/bin/node --max_old_space_size=150 /home/yellowtent/box/box.js >> /home/yellowtent/platformdata/logs/box.log 2>&1'
 Environment="HOME=/home/yellowtent" "USER=yellowtent" "DEBUG=box*,connect-lastmile" "BOX_ENV=cloudron" "NODE_ENV=production"
 ; kill apptask processes as well
 KillMode=control-group