diff --git a/tools/package/onos-prep-karaf b/tools/package/onos-prep-karaf
index 6564d5f..309be06 100755
--- a/tools/package/onos-prep-karaf
+++ b/tools/package/onos-prep-karaf
@@ -44,6 +44,9 @@
 perl -pi.old -e "s|^(featuresBoot=).*|\1$BOOT_FEATURES|" \
     $KARAF_DIR/etc/org.apache.karaf.features.cfg
 
+# Patch the karaf start script to disable user interrupts
+perl -pi.old -e "s|(-Dkaraf.startLocalConsole=true -Dkaraf.startRemoteShell=true)|\1 -Dkaraf.ignoreInterrupts=true|" \
+    $KARAF_DIR/bin/karaf
 
 # Patch the Apache Karaf distribution with ONOS branding bundle
 cp $BRANDING $KARAF_DIR/lib