diff --git a/scripts/runqemu b/scripts/runqemu
index 3d77046972..137a4f0feb 100755
--- a/scripts/runqemu
+++ b/scripts/runqemu
@@ -368,12 +368,13 @@ class BaseConfig(object):
         - Check whether it is an NFS dir
         - Check whether it is an OVMF flash file
         """
+        n = os.path.basename(p)
         if p.endswith('.qemuboot.conf'):
             self.qemuboot = p
             self.qbconfload = True
-        elif re.search('\\.bin$', p) or re.search('bzImage', p) or \
-             re.search('zImage', p) or re.search('vmlinux', p) or \
-             re.search('fitImage', p) or re.search('uImage', p):
+        elif re.search('\\.bin$', n) or re.search('bzImage', n) or \
+             re.search('zImage', n) or re.search('vmlinux', n) or \
+             re.search('fitImage', n) or re.search('uImage', n):
             self.kernel =  p
         elif os.path.isfile(p) and ('-image-' in os.path.basename(p) or '.rootfs.' in os.path.basename(p)):
             self.rootfs = p