diff --git a/dlls/ntdll/loader.c b/dlls/ntdll/loader.c
index 7e0b43a125a..87767e57457 100644
--- a/dlls/ntdll/loader.c
+++ b/dlls/ntdll/loader.c
@@ -2318,37 +2318,6 @@ void __wine_init_windows_dir( const WCHAR *windir, const WCHAR *sysdir )
 }
 
 
-/***********************************************************************
- *           check_command_line
- *
- * Check if command line is one that needs to be handled specially.
- */
-static void check_command_line( int argc, char *argv[] )
-{
-    static const char version[] = PACKAGE_STRING "\n";
-    static const char usage[] =
-        "Usage: wine PROGRAM [ARGUMENTS...]   Run the specified program\n"
-        "       wine --help                   Display this help and exit\n"
-        "       wine --version                Output version information and exit\n";
-
-    if (argc <= 1)
-    {
-        write( 2, usage, sizeof(usage) - 1 );
-        exit(1);
-    }
-    if (!strcmp( argv[1], "--help" ))
-    {
-        write( 1, usage, sizeof(usage) - 1 );
-        exit(0);
-    }
-    if (!strcmp( argv[1], "--version" ))
-    {
-        write( 1, version, sizeof(version) - 1 );
-        exit(0);
-    }
-}
-
-
 /***********************************************************************
  *           __wine_process_init
  */
@@ -2362,7 +2331,6 @@ void __wine_process_init(void)
     void (* DECLSPEC_NORETURN init_func)(void);
     extern mode_t FILE_umask;
 
-    check_command_line( __wine_main_argc, __wine_main_argv );
     main_exe_file = thread_init();
 
     /* retrieve current umask */
diff --git a/loader/main.c b/loader/main.c
index 5000add2bbc..dd5d7694dc5 100644
--- a/loader/main.c
+++ b/loader/main.c
@@ -61,6 +61,37 @@ static inline void reserve_area( void *addr, size_t size )
 
 #endif  /* __APPLE__ */
 
+/***********************************************************************
+ *           check_command_line
+ *
+ * Check if command line is one that needs to be handled specially.
+ */
+static void check_command_line( int argc, char *argv[] )
+{
+    static const char version[] = PACKAGE_STRING;
+    static const char usage[] =
+        "Usage: wine PROGRAM [ARGUMENTS...]   Run the specified program\n"
+        "       wine --help                   Display this help and exit\n"
+        "       wine --version                Output version information and exit";
+
+    if (argc <= 1)
+    {
+        fprintf( stderr, "%s\n", usage );
+        exit(1);
+    }
+    if (!strcmp( argv[1], "--help" ))
+    {
+        printf( "%s\n", usage );
+        exit(0);
+    }
+    if (!strcmp( argv[1], "--version" ))
+    {
+        printf( "%s\n", version );
+        exit(0);
+    }
+}
+
+
 /**********************************************************************
  *           main
  */
@@ -69,6 +100,7 @@ int main( int argc, char *argv[] )
     char error[1024];
     int i;
 
+    check_command_line( argc, argv );
     if (wine_main_preload_info)
     {
         for (i = 0; wine_main_preload_info[i].size; i++)