diff --git a/cmirror.c b/cmirror.c
index bca9caa..b1711ec 100644
--- a/cmirror.c
+++ b/cmirror.c
@@ -1104,7 +1104,7 @@ static void master(char *master_path, char *target) {
     LOCAL_DEV = g_hash_table_new_full(g_int64_hash, g_int64_equal, g_free, NULL);
 
     {
-        g_auto(GStrv) match1 = MATCH_RE("^([^:]+):(.+)$", target);         // system:/path
+        g_auto(GStrv) match1 = MATCH_RE("^([^:]*):(.+)$", target);         // system:/path
         if (match1) {
             slave_path = STEAL_POINTER(&(match1[2]));
             g_auto(GStrv) match2 = MATCH_RE("^([^@]+)@(.+)$", match1[1]);      // user@system