diff --git a/bitbake/bin/bitbake b/bitbake/bin/bitbake
index 86d32cff09..fcfe0434ce 100755
--- a/bitbake/bin/bitbake
+++ b/bitbake/bin/bitbake
@@ -200,6 +200,28 @@ class BitBakeConfigParameters(cookerdata.ConfigParameters):
             options.servertype = "xmlrpc"
             options.remote_server = os.environ["BBSERVER"]
 
+        # if BBSERVER says to autodetect, let's do that
+        if options.remote_server:
+            [host, port] = options.remote_server.split(":", 2)
+            port = int(port)
+            # use automatic port if port set to -1, means read it from
+            # the bitbake.lock file; this is a bit tricky, but we always expect
+            # to be in the base of the build directory if we need to have a
+            # chance to start the server later, anyway
+            if port == -1:
+                lock_location = "./bitbake.lock"
+                # we try to read the address at all times; if the server is not started,
+                # we'll try to start it after the first connect fails, below
+                try:
+                    lf = open(lock_location, 'r')
+                    remotedef = lf.readline()
+                    [host, port] = remotedef.split(":")
+                    port = int(port)
+                    lf.close()
+                    options.remote_server = remotedef
+                except Exception as e:
+                    sys.exit("Failed to read bitbake.lock (%s), invalid port" % str(e))
+
         return options, targets[1:]
 
 
@@ -309,7 +331,6 @@ def main():
         # we start a stub server that is actually a XMLRPClient that connects to a real server
         server = servermodule.BitBakeXMLRPCClient(configParams.observe_only)
         server.saveConnectionDetails(configParams.remote_server)
-        server.saveConnectionConfigParams(configParams)
 
     if not configParams.server_only:
         if configParams.status_only:
diff --git a/bitbake/lib/bb/server/xmlrpc.py b/bitbake/lib/bb/server/xmlrpc.py
index 5dcaa6c7b0..6fc5543a80 100644
--- a/bitbake/lib/bb/server/xmlrpc.py
+++ b/bitbake/lib/bb/server/xmlrpc.py
@@ -340,9 +340,6 @@ class BitBakeXMLRPCClient(BitBakeBaseServer):
     def saveConnectionDetails(self, remote):
         self.remote = remote
 
-    def saveConnectionConfigParams(self, configParams):
-        self.configParams = configParams
-
     def establishConnection(self, featureset):
         # The format of "remote" must be "server:port"
         try:
@@ -351,27 +348,6 @@ class BitBakeXMLRPCClient(BitBakeBaseServer):
         except Exception as e:
             bb.fatal("Failed to read remote definition (%s)" % str(e))
 
-        # use automatic port if port set to -1, meaning read it from
-        # the bitbake.lock file
-        if port == -1:
-            lock_location = "%s/bitbake.lock" % self.configParams.environment.get('BUILDDIR')
-            lock = bb.utils.lockfile(lock_location, False, False)
-            if lock:
-                # This means there is no server running which we can
-                # connect to on the local system.
-                bb.utils.unlockfile(lock)
-                return None
-
-            try:
-                lf = open(lock_location, 'r')
-                remotedef = lf.readline()
-                [host, port] = remotedef.split(":")
-                port = int(port)
-                lf.close()
-                self.remote = remotedef
-            except Exception as e:
-                bb.fatal("Failed to read bitbake.lock (%s)" % str(e))
-
         # We need our IP for the server connection. We get the IP
         # by trying to connect with the server
         try: