diff --git a/proxmox-router/src/cli/getopts.rs b/proxmox-router/src/cli/getopts.rs
index dcb0716e..8f697a49 100644
--- a/proxmox-router/src/cli/getopts.rs
+++ b/proxmox-router/src/cli/getopts.rs
@@ -263,6 +263,7 @@ pub(crate) struct ParseOptions<'t, 'o> {
     stop_at_positional: bool,
     stop_at_unknown: bool,
     deny_unknown: bool,
+    retain_unknown: bool,
     retain_separator: bool,
 }
 
@@ -278,6 +279,7 @@ impl<'t, 'o> ParseOptions<'t, 'o> {
             stop_at_positional: false,
             stop_at_unknown: false,
             deny_unknown: false,
+            retain_unknown: false,
             retain_separator: false,
         }
     }
@@ -288,6 +290,12 @@ impl<'t, 'o> ParseOptions<'t, 'o> {
         self
     }
 
+    /// Builder style option to retain unknown parameters in the returned argument array.
+    pub fn retain_unknown(mut self, deny: bool) -> Self {
+        self.retain_unknown = deny;
+        self
+    }
+
     /// Builder style option to stop parsing on unknown parameters.
     /// This implies deny_unknown`.
     /// Useful for bash completion.
@@ -351,12 +359,19 @@ impl<'t, 'o> ParseOptions<'t, 'o> {
 
             let opt_schema = self.option_schemas.get(option).copied();
 
-            if self.deny_unknown && opt_schema.is_none() {
-                if self.stop_at_unknown {
+            if opt_schema.is_none() {
+                if self.retain_unknown {
                     positional.push(orig_arg);
-                    break;
+                    continue;
+                }
+
+                if self.deny_unknown {
+                    if self.stop_at_unknown {
+                        positional.push(orig_arg);
+                        break;
+                    }
+                    errors.push(option.to_string(), format_err!("unknown option {option:?}"));
                 }
-                errors.push(option.to_string(), format_err!("unknown option {option:?}"));
             }
 
             if let Some(value) = value {
diff --git a/proxmox-router/src/cli/mod.rs b/proxmox-router/src/cli/mod.rs
index 14f98b0c..3cc41ab3 100644
--- a/proxmox-router/src/cli/mod.rs
+++ b/proxmox-router/src/cli/mod.rs
@@ -464,11 +464,16 @@ impl<'cli> CommandLineParseState<'cli> {
     }
 
     /// Parse out the current global options and return the remaining `args`.
-    fn handle_current_global_options(&mut self, args: Vec<String>) -> Result<Vec<String>, Error> {
+    fn handle_current_global_options(
+        &mut self,
+        args: Vec<String>,
+        needs_subcommand: bool,
+    ) -> Result<Vec<String>, Error> {
         let mut global_args = Vec::new();
         let args = getopts::ParseOptions::new(&mut global_args, &self.global_option_schemas)
-            .stop_at_positional(true)
-            .deny_unknown(true)
+            .deny_unknown(needs_subcommand)
+            .stop_at_positional(needs_subcommand)
+            .retain_unknown(!needs_subcommand)
             .parse(args)?;
         // and merge them into the hash map
         for (option, argument) in global_args {
@@ -505,7 +510,7 @@ impl<'cli> CommandLineParseState<'cli> {
 
         self.enable_global_options(cli);
 
-        let mut args = self.handle_current_global_options(args)?;
+        let mut args = self.handle_current_global_options(args, true)?;
 
         // now deal with the actual subcommand list
         if args.is_empty() {
@@ -538,7 +543,7 @@ impl<'cli> CommandLineParseState<'cli> {
         rpcenv: &mut CliEnvironment,
         args: Vec<String>,
     ) -> Result<Invocation<'cli>, Error> {
-        let args = self.handle_current_global_options(args)?;
+        let args = self.handle_current_global_options(args, false)?;
         self.build_global_options(&mut *rpcenv)?;
         let interface = Arc::clone(&self.interface);
         Ok(Invocation {