diff --git a/src/main/java/io/kamax/mxisd/MxisdStandaloneExec.java b/src/main/java/io/kamax/mxisd/MxisdStandaloneExec.java
index 4247dc11..e5375df9 100644
--- a/src/main/java/io/kamax/mxisd/MxisdStandaloneExec.java
+++ b/src/main/java/io/kamax/mxisd/MxisdStandaloneExec.java
@@ -22,40 +22,40 @@
 
 import io.kamax.mxisd.config.MxisdConfig;
 import io.kamax.mxisd.config.YamlConfigLoader;
+import io.kamax.mxisd.exception.ConfigurationException;
 import org.apache.commons.lang3.StringUtils;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
-import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.Iterator;
 import java.util.Objects;
 
 public class MxisdStandaloneExec {
 
-    private static final Logger log = LoggerFactory.getLogger("");
+    private static final Logger log = LoggerFactory.getLogger("App");
 
-    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
-        log.info("------------- mxisd starting -------------");
-        MxisdConfig cfg = null;
+    public static void main(String[] args) {
+        try {
+            log.info("------------- mxisd starting -------------");
+            MxisdConfig cfg = null;
 
-        Iterator<String> argsIt = Arrays.asList(args).iterator();
-        while (argsIt.hasNext()) {
-            String arg = argsIt.next();
-            if (StringUtils.equals("-c", arg)) {
-                String cfgFile = argsIt.next();
-                cfg = YamlConfigLoader.loadFromFile(cfgFile);
-            } else {
-                log.info("Invalid argument: {}", arg);
-                System.exit(1);
+            Iterator<String> argsIt = Arrays.asList(args).iterator();
+            while (argsIt.hasNext()) {
+                String arg = argsIt.next();
+                if (StringUtils.equals("-c", arg)) {
+                    String cfgFile = argsIt.next();
+                    cfg = YamlConfigLoader.loadFromFile(cfgFile);
+                } else {
+                    log.info("Invalid argument: {}", arg);
+                    System.exit(1);
+                }
             }
-        }
 
-        if (Objects.isNull(cfg)) {
-            cfg = YamlConfigLoader.tryLoadFromFile("mxisd.yaml").orElseGet(MxisdConfig::new);
-        }
+            if (Objects.isNull(cfg)) {
+                cfg = YamlConfigLoader.tryLoadFromFile("mxisd.yaml").orElseGet(MxisdConfig::new);
+            }
 
-        try {
             HttpMxisd mxisd = new HttpMxisd(cfg);
             Runtime.getRuntime().addShutdownHook(new Thread(() -> {
                 mxisd.stop();
@@ -64,6 +64,10 @@ public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
             mxisd.start();
 
             log.info("------------- mxisd started -------------");
+        } catch (ConfigurationException e) {
+            log.error(e.getDetailedMessage());
+            log.error(e.getMessage());
+            System.exit(2);
         } catch (Throwable t) {
             t.printStackTrace();
             System.exit(1);
diff --git a/src/main/java/io/kamax/mxisd/config/YamlConfigLoader.java b/src/main/java/io/kamax/mxisd/config/YamlConfigLoader.java
index 5877f1af..141ed590 100644
--- a/src/main/java/io/kamax/mxisd/config/YamlConfigLoader.java
+++ b/src/main/java/io/kamax/mxisd/config/YamlConfigLoader.java
@@ -21,12 +21,15 @@
 package io.kamax.mxisd.config;
 
 import io.kamax.matrix.json.GsonUtil;
+import io.kamax.mxisd.exception.ConfigurationException;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 import org.yaml.snakeyaml.Yaml;
 import org.yaml.snakeyaml.constructor.Constructor;
+import org.yaml.snakeyaml.parser.ParserException;
 import org.yaml.snakeyaml.representer.Representer;
 
+import java.io.File;
 import java.io.FileInputStream;
 import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
 import java.io.IOException;
@@ -37,12 +40,13 @@ public class YamlConfigLoader {
     private static final Logger log = LoggerFactory.getLogger(YamlConfigLoader.class);
 
     public static MxisdConfig loadFromFile(String path) throws IOException {
-        log.debug("Reading config from {}", path);
+        File f = new File(path).getAbsoluteFile();
+        log.info("Reading config from {}", f.toString());
         Representer rep = new Representer();
         rep.getPropertyUtils().setAllowReadOnlyProperties(true);
         rep.getPropertyUtils().setSkipMissingProperties(true);
         Yaml yaml = new Yaml(new Constructor(MxisdConfig.class), rep);
-        try (FileInputStream is = new FileInputStream(path)) {
+        try (FileInputStream is = new FileInputStream(f)) {
             MxisdConfig raw = yaml.load(is);
             log.debug("Read config in memory from {}", path);
 
@@ -53,6 +57,8 @@ public static MxisdConfig loadFromFile(String path) throws IOException {
 
             log.info("Loaded config from {}", path);
             return cfg;
+        } catch (ParserException t) {
+            throw new ConfigurationException(t.getMessage(), "Could not parse YAML config file - Please check indentation and that the configuration options exist");
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/io/kamax/mxisd/exception/ConfigurationException.java b/src/main/java/io/kamax/mxisd/exception/ConfigurationException.java
index d6569ae3..21d322dc 100644
--- a/src/main/java/io/kamax/mxisd/exception/ConfigurationException.java
+++ b/src/main/java/io/kamax/mxisd/exception/ConfigurationException.java
@@ -20,11 +20,8 @@
 
 package io.kamax.mxisd.exception;
 
-import java.util.Optional;
-
 public class ConfigurationException extends RuntimeException {
 
-    private String key;
     private String detailedMsg;
 
     public ConfigurationException(String key) {
@@ -40,8 +37,8 @@ public ConfigurationException(String key, String detailedMsg) {
         this.detailedMsg = detailedMsg;
     }
 
-    public Optional<String> getDetailedMessage() {
-        return Optional.ofNullable(detailedMsg);
+    public String getDetailedMessage() {
+        return detailedMsg;
     }
 
 }