diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 3a98ea467..0a3415c70 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@
   - Hostname is set before networks are setup to avoid very slow `sudo`
     speeds on CentOS. [GH-922]
   - Fix typo in setting host name for Gentoo guests. [GH-931]
+  - `config.ssh.shell` now includes the flags to pass to it, such as `-l` [GH-917]
 
 ## 1.0.3 (May 1, 2012)
 
diff --git a/config/default.rb b/config/default.rb
index f0a877c79..8a50b7e7b 100644
--- a/config/default.rb
+++ b/config/default.rb
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ Vagrant.configure("1") do |config|
   config.ssh.timeout = 10
   config.ssh.forward_agent = false
   config.ssh.forward_x11 = false
-  config.ssh.shell = "bash"
+  config.ssh.shell = "bash -l"
 
   config.vm.auto_port_range = (2200..2250)
   config.vm.box_url = nil
diff --git a/lib/vagrant/communication/ssh.rb b/lib/vagrant/communication/ssh.rb
index 1ebcdf66d..a1495ebf7 100644
--- a/lib/vagrant/communication/ssh.rb
+++ b/lib/vagrant/communication/ssh.rb
@@ -172,8 +172,7 @@ module Vagrant
 
         # Determine the shell to execute. If we are using `sudo` then we
         # need to wrap the shell in a `sudo` call.
-        shell = "#{@vm.config.ssh.shell} -l"
-        shell = "sudo -H #{shell}" if sudo
+        shell = "sudo -H #{@vm.config.ssh.shell}" if sudo
 
         # Open the channel so we can execute or command
         channel = connection.open_channel do |ch|