diff --git a/src/aiori-POSIX.c b/src/aiori-POSIX.c
index 7ec7662..4c4d7d3 100644
--- a/src/aiori-POSIX.c
+++ b/src/aiori-POSIX.c
@@ -100,23 +100,8 @@ IOR_Create_POSIX(char        * testFileName,
         fd_oflag |= O_DIRECT;
     }
 
-#ifndef HAVE_LUSTRE_LUSTRE_USER_H
-    /* If the lustre striping parameters are not the defaults */
-    if (param->lustre_stripe_count != 0
-        || param->lustre_stripe_size != 0
-        || param->lustre_start_ost != -1
-        || param->lustre_ignore_locks) {
-        ERR("This IOR was not compiled with Lustre support!");
-    }    
-    fd_oflag |= O_CREAT | O_RDWR;
-    *fd = open64(testFileName, fd_oflag, 0664);
-    if (*fd < 0) ERR("cannot open file");
-#else /* HAVE_LUSTRE_LUSTRE_USER_H */
-    /* If the lustre striping parameters are not the defaults */
-    if (param->lustre_stripe_count != 0
-        || param->lustre_stripe_size != 0
-        || param->lustre_start_ost != -1) {
-
+#ifdef HAVE_LUSTRE_LUSTRE_USER_H
+    if (param->lustre_set_striping) {
         /* In the single-shared-file case, task 0 has to creat the
            file with the Lustre striping options before any other processes
            open the file */
@@ -154,9 +139,11 @@ IOR_Create_POSIX(char        * testFileName,
                 MPI_CHECK(MPI_Barrier(testComm), "barrier error");
         }
     } else {
+#endif /* HAVE_LUSTRE_LUSTRE_USER_H */
         fd_oflag |= O_CREAT | O_RDWR;
         *fd = open64(testFileName, fd_oflag, 0664);
         if (*fd < 0) ERR("cannot open file");
+#ifdef HAVE_LUSTRE_LUSTRE_USER_H
     }
     
     if (param->lustre_ignore_locks) {
@@ -164,7 +151,7 @@ IOR_Create_POSIX(char        * testFileName,
         if (ioctl(*fd, LL_IOC_SETFLAGS, &lustre_ioctl_flags) == -1)
             ERR("cannot set ioctl");
     }
-#endif /* not HAVE_LUSTRE_LUSTRE_USER_H */
+#endif /* HAVE_LUSTRE_LUSTRE_USER_H */
 
     return((void *)fd);
 } /* IOR_Create_POSIX() */
diff --git a/src/aiori.h b/src/aiori.h
index 6d5b9ae..1737787 100644
--- a/src/aiori.h
+++ b/src/aiori.h
@@ -147,6 +147,7 @@ typedef struct
     int lustre_stripe_count;
     int lustre_stripe_size;
     int lustre_start_ost;
+    int lustre_set_striping;         /* flag that we need to set lustre striping */
     int lustre_ignore_locks;
 
 #if USE_UNDOC_OPT
diff --git a/src/defaults.h b/src/defaults.h
index c7d6cc0..2596b25 100644
--- a/src/defaults.h
+++ b/src/defaults.h
@@ -113,6 +113,7 @@ IOR_param_t defaultParameters = {
     0,               /* lustre_stripe_count */
     0,               /* lustre_stripe_size */
     -1,              /* lustre_start_ost */
+    0,               /* lustre_set_striping */
     0,               /* lustre_ignore_locks */
 
 #if USE_UNDOC_OPT
diff --git a/src/parse_options.c b/src/parse_options.c
index d63908c..e7fbdf1 100644
--- a/src/parse_options.c
+++ b/src/parse_options.c
@@ -160,12 +160,27 @@ void DecodeDirective(char *line, IOR_param_t *test)
     } else if (strcasecmp(option, "randomoffset") == 0) {
         test->randomOffset = atoi(value);
     } else if (strcasecmp(option, "lustrestripecount") == 0) {
+#ifndef HAVE_LUSTRE_LUSTRE_USER_H
+        ERR("ior was not compiled with Lustre support");
+#endif
         test->lustre_stripe_count = atoi(value);
+        test->lustre_set_striping = 1;
     } else if (strcasecmp(option, "lustrestripesize") == 0) {
+#ifndef HAVE_LUSTRE_LUSTRE_USER_H
+        ERR("ior was not compiled with Lustre support");
+#endif
         test->lustre_stripe_size = StringToBytes(value);
+        test->lustre_set_striping = 1;
     } else if (strcasecmp(option, "lustrestartost") == 0) {
+#ifndef HAVE_LUSTRE_LUSTRE_USER_H
+        ERR("ior was not compiled with Lustre support");
+#endif
         test->lustre_start_ost = atoi(value);
+        test->lustre_set_striping = 1;
     } else if (strcasecmp(option, "lustreignorelocks") == 0) {
+#ifndef HAVE_LUSTRE_LUSTRE_USER_H
+        ERR("ior was not compiled with Lustre support");
+#endif
         test->lustre_ignore_locks = atoi(value);
 #if USE_UNDOC_OPT
     } else if (strcasecmp(option, "corruptFile") == 0) {