diff --git a/lib/cli.js b/lib/cli.js
index 3c23f0596..9d6c774c7 100644
--- a/lib/cli.js
+++ b/lib/cli.js
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 var path = require('path')
 var optimist = require('optimist')
 var fs = require('graceful-fs')
-var spawn = require('child_process').spawn
 
 var Server = require('./server')
 var helper = require('./helper')
@@ -209,21 +208,6 @@ var describeCompletion = function () {
     .describe('help', 'Print usage.')
 }
 
-var startServer = function (config) {
-  var args = process.argv
-  var detachedIndex = args.indexOf('--detached')
-  if (detachedIndex === -1) {
-    new Server(config).start()
-    return
-  }
-  args.splice(detachedIndex, 1)
-  var child = spawn(args[0], args.slice(1), {
-    detached: true,
-    stdio: ['ignore', 'ignore', 'ignore']
-  })
-  child.unref()
-}
-
 exports.process = function () {
   var argv = optimist.parse(argsBeforeDoubleDash(process.argv.slice(2)))
   var options = {
@@ -272,7 +256,7 @@ exports.run = function () {
 
   switch (config.cmd) {
     case 'start':
-      startServer(config)
+      new Server(config).start()
       break
     case 'run':
       require('./runner').run(config)
diff --git a/lib/detached.js b/lib/detached.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..76af943f4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/detached.js
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+var fs = require('fs')
+
+var Server = require('./server')
+var configurationFile = process.argv[2]
+var fileContents = fs.readFileSync(configurationFile, 'utf-8')
+fs.unlink(configurationFile, function () {})
+var data = JSON.parse(fileContents)
+var server = new Server(data)
+server.start(data)
diff --git a/lib/middleware/stopper.js b/lib/middleware/stopper.js
index ecd2b0b90..8d41cee00 100644
--- a/lib/middleware/stopper.js
+++ b/lib/middleware/stopper.js
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ var createStopperMiddleware = function (urlRoot) {
     response.writeHead(200)
     log.info('Stopping server')
     response.end('OK')
-    process.exit(0)
+    process.kill(process.pid, 'SIGINT')
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/lib/server.js b/lib/server.js
index 34de4ed2c..e7f496264 100644
--- a/lib/server.js
+++ b/lib/server.js
@@ -2,7 +2,10 @@ var SocketIO = require('socket.io')
 var di = require('di')
 var util = require('util')
 var Promise = require('bluebird')
-
+var spawn = require('child_process').spawn
+var tmp = require('tmp')
+var fs = require('fs')
+var path = require('path')
 var root = global || window || this
 
 var cfg = require('./config')
@@ -131,6 +134,10 @@ Server.prototype.refreshFiles = function () {
 Server.prototype._start = function (config, launcher, preprocess, fileList, webServer,
                                     capturedBrowsers, socketServer, executor, done) {
   var self = this
+  if (config.detached) {
+    this._detach(config, done)
+    return
+  }
 
   self._fileList = fileList
 
@@ -362,6 +369,27 @@ Server.prototype._start = function (config, launcher, preprocess, fileList, webS
   })
 }
 
+Server.prototype._detach = function (config, done) {
+  var log = this.log
+  var tmpFile = tmp.fileSync({keep: true})
+  log.info('Starting karma detached')
+  log.info('Run "karma stop" to stop the server.')
+  log.debug('Writing config to tmp-file %s', tmpFile.name)
+  config.detached = false
+  try {
+    fs.writeFileSync(tmpFile.name, JSON.stringify(config), 'utf8')
+  } catch (e) {
+    log.error("Couldn't write temporary configuration file")
+    done(1)
+    return
+  }
+  var child = spawn(process.argv[0], [path.resolve(__dirname, '../lib/detached.js'), tmpFile.name], {
+    detached: true,
+    stdio: 'ignore'
+  })
+  child.unref()
+}
+
 // Export
 // ------
 
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index ff1bfebe1..e39f62535 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -283,6 +283,7 @@
     "rimraf": "^2.3.3",
     "socket.io": "^1.4.5",
     "source-map": "^0.5.3",
+    "tmp": "0.0.28",
     "useragent": "^2.1.6"
   },
   "devDependencies": {