diff --git a/lib/grunt/utils.js b/lib/grunt/utils.js
index 73e8b1efc790..06202d91bb70 100644
--- a/lib/grunt/utils.js
+++ b/lib/grunt/utils.js
@@ -221,7 +221,7 @@ module.exports = {
   //returns the 32-bit mode force flags for java compiler if supported, this makes the build much faster
   java32flags: function() {
     if (process.platform === 'win32') return '';
-    if (shell.exec('java -version -d32 2>&1', {silent: true}).code !== 0) return '';
+    if (shell.exec('java -d32 -version 2>&1', {silent: true}).code !== 0) return '';
     return ' -d32 -client';
   },