diff --git a/shell/main.cpp b/shell/main.cpp
--- a/shell/main.cpp
+++ b/shell/main.cpp
@@ -88,6 +88,11 @@
 
     app.setQuitOnLastWindowClosed(false);
 
+    QString defaultShell = qgetenv("KDE_PLASMA_DEFAULT_SHELLPACKAGE");
+    if (defaultShell.isEmpty()) {
+        defaultShell = QStringLiteral("org.kde.plasma.desktop");
+    }
+
     {
     QCommandLineParser cliOptions;
 
@@ -101,7 +106,7 @@
 
     QCommandLineOption shellPluginOption(QStringList() << QStringLiteral("p") << QStringLiteral("shell-plugin"),
                                          i18n("Force loading the given shell plugin"),
-                                         QStringLiteral("plugin"), QStringLiteral("org.kde.plasma.desktop"));
+                                         QStringLiteral("plugin"), defaultShell);
 
     QCommandLineOption standaloneOption(QStringList() << QStringLiteral("a") << QStringLiteral("standalone"),
                                         i18n("Load plasmashell as a standalone application, needs the shell-plugin option to be specified"));
diff --git a/startkde/startplasma-wayland.cpp b/startkde/startplasma-wayland.cpp
--- a/startkde/startplasma-wayland.cpp
+++ b/startkde/startplasma-wayland.cpp
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
 #include <QDBusConnection>
 #include <QDBusInterface>
 
-int main(int /*argc*/, char** /*argv*/)
+int main(int argc, char** argv)
 {
     createConfigDirectory();
     setupCursor(true);
@@ -74,7 +74,13 @@
         out << "startplasmacompositor: Could not start D-Bus. Can you call qdbus?\n";
         return 1;
     }
-    setupPlasmaEnvironment();
+
+    QString plasmaShell = QStringLiteral("org.kde.plasma.desktop");
+    if (argc > 1) {
+        plasmaShell = QString::fromLatin1(argv[1]);
+    }
+    setupPlasmaEnvironment(plasmaShell);
+
     qputenv("XDG_SESSION_TYPE", "wayland");
 
     if (!syncDBusEnvironment()) {
diff --git a/startkde/startplasma-x11.cpp b/startkde/startplasma-x11.cpp
--- a/startkde/startplasma-x11.cpp
+++ b/startkde/startplasma-x11.cpp
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@
     out << "GOT SIGHUP\n";
 }
 
-int main(int /*argc*/, char** /*argv*/)
+int main(int argc, char** argv)
 {
     // When the X server dies we get a HUP signal from xinit. We must ignore it
     // because we still need to do some cleanup.
@@ -90,7 +90,12 @@
 
     out << "startkde: Starting up...\n";
 
-    setupPlasmaEnvironment();
+    QString plasmaShell = QStringLiteral("org.kde.plasma.desktop");
+    if (argc > 1) {
+        plasmaShell = QString::fromLatin1(argv[1]);
+    }
+
+    setupPlasmaEnvironment(plasmaShell);
     setupX11();
 
     if (!syncDBusEnvironment()) {
diff --git a/startkde/startplasma.h b/startkde/startplasma.h
--- a/startkde/startplasma.h
+++ b/startkde/startplasma.h
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@
 void runStartupConfig();
 void setupCursor(bool wayland);
 void runEnvironmentScripts();
-void setupPlasmaEnvironment();
+void setupPlasmaEnvironment(const QString &plasmaShell);
 void cleanupPlasmaEnvironment();
 void cleanupX11();
 bool syncDBusEnvironment();
diff --git a/startkde/startplasma.cpp b/startkde/startplasma.cpp
--- a/startkde/startplasma.cpp
+++ b/startkde/startplasma.cpp
@@ -216,7 +216,7 @@
 // Since KDE4 there is also KDE_SESSION_VERSION, containing the major version number.
 //
 
-void setupPlasmaEnvironment()
+void setupPlasmaEnvironment(const QString &plasmaShell)
 {
     //Manually disable auto scaling because we are scaling above
     //otherwise apps that manually opt in for high DPI get auto scaled by the developer AND manually scaled by us
@@ -226,6 +226,7 @@
     qputenv("KDE_SESSION_VERSION", "5");
     qputenv("KDE_SESSION_UID", QByteArray::number(getuid()));
     qputenv("XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP", "KDE");
+    qputenv("KDE_PLASMA_DEFAULT_SHELLPACKAGE", plasmaShell.toLatin1());
 }
 
 void setupX11()
@@ -255,6 +256,7 @@
     qunsetenv("KDE_FULL_SESSION");
     qunsetenv("KDE_SESSION_VERSION");
     qunsetenv("KDE_SESSION_UID");
+    qunsetenv("KDE_PLASMA_DEFAULT_SHELLPACKAGE");
 }
 
 // kwin_wayland can possibly also start dbus-activated services which need env variables.