diff --git a/start b/start
index 5b29aef9..0fd82274 100755
--- a/start
+++ b/start
@@ -1,2 +1,6 @@
 #!/bin/bash
-nohup /usr/bin/python -u server.py &>> /var/log/electrum.log &
+which python2 &> /dev/null
+RET=$?
+[ $RET -eq 0 ] && PYTHON=`which python2`
+[ $RET -ne 0 ] && PYTHON=`which python`
+nohup $PYTHON -u server.py &>> /var/log/electrum.log &
diff --git a/stop b/stop
index 89b1111c..5f4d07c6 100755
--- a/stop
+++ b/stop
@@ -1,2 +1,6 @@
 #!/bin/bash
-/usr/bin/python server.py stop
+which python2 &> /dev/null
+RET=$?
+[ $RET -eq 0 ] && PYTHON=`which python2`
+[ $RET -ne 0 ] && PYTHON=`which python`
+$PYTHON server.py stop