diff --git a/ManageBulkInstances.pm b/ManageBulkInstances.pm
index 993b519..b912d21 100644
--- a/ManageBulkInstances.pm
+++ b/ManageBulkInstances.pm
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ my $os_auth_url = $ENV{'OS_AUTH_URL'};
 
 my $ssh_options = "-o StrictHostKeyChecking=no"; # StrictHostKeyChecking=no because I am too lazy to check for the question.
 
-my $vm_user = 'ubuntu';
+our $vm_user = 'ubuntu';
 
 my @hobbitlist = ("Frodo","Samwise","Meriadoc","Peregrin","Gandalf","Aragorn","Legolas","Gimli","Denethor","Boromir","Faramir","Galadriel","Celeborn","Elrond","Bilbo","Theoden","Eomer","Eowyn","Treebeard");
 
@@ -125,6 +125,7 @@ our $options_specify = [	"Specify existing VMs for actions and deletion",
 
 our $options_other_opts = ["Other options",
 							"noownercheck"	=> "disables owner check",									undef,
+							"vm_user=s" => "username for vm login and home dir",          undef,
 							"debug"	=> "debug info",									undef
 ];
 
diff --git a/vmAWE.pl b/vmAWE.pl
index cc365ef..3b016b2 100755
--- a/vmAWE.pl
+++ b/vmAWE.pl
@@ -87,6 +87,11 @@
 # get values from config file
 ManageBulkInstances::read_config_file(\%arg_hash, "default");
 
+unless (defined $arg_hash{"vm_user"}) {
+	$arg_hash{"vm_user"} = $ManageBulkInstances::vm_user;
+}
+$ManageBulkInstances::vm_user = $arg_hash{"vm_user"};
+
 # get values from IP file
 if (defined $arg_hash{"ipfile"}) {
 	ManageBulkInstances::read_config_file(\%arg_hash, $arg_hash{"ipfile"});