diff --git a/tools/deploy-qemu b/tools/deploy-qemu
index 6557a977a..81f91d88b 100755
--- a/tools/deploy-qemu
+++ b/tools/deploy-qemu
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ its content as additional arguments to qemu."""
 
 if len(sys.argv) != 3:
     print(HELP_TEXT)
-    exit(1)
+    sys.exit(1)
 
 script_dir = os.path.dirname(os.path.realpath(__file__))
 image = sys.argv[1]