diff --git a/src/aem-lts/bin/aem-lts b/src/aem-lts/bin/aem-lts
index d6455a0..877d021 100644
--- a/src/aem-lts/bin/aem-lts
+++ b/src/aem-lts/bin/aem-lts
@@ -79,8 +79,10 @@ IS_RUNNING=false
 case "${action}" in
     start)
 
-        ${IS_RUNNING} && aem_lts_err "AEM ${service} already running"
-        [[ -f "${PID_FILE}" ]] && sudo rm -f "${PID_FILE}"  # remove stale pid file if present
+        if ! ${INTERACTIVE}; then
+            ${IS_RUNNING} && aem_lts_err "AEM ${service} already running"
+            [[ -f "${PID_FILE}" ]] && sudo rm -f "${PID_FILE}"  # remove stale pid file if present
+        fi
 
         port=$(get_runmode_port ${service})
         jvm_opts="-agentlib:jdwp=transport=dt_socket,address=*:3${port},server=y,suspend=n"
@@ -89,7 +91,7 @@ case "${action}" in
         if ${INTERACTIVE}; then
             # run in foreground; CTRL+C to stop
             echo "Running in interactive mode, press CTRL+C to stop..."
-            ${JAVA_HOME}/bin/java ${jvm_opts} -jar "${jarFileLink}" ${cq_opts}
+            sudo sh -c "cd '$(dirname "${jarFileLink}")' && exec ${JAVA_HOME}/bin/java ${jvm_opts} -jar '${jarFileLink}' ${cq_opts}"
         else
             sudo start-stop-daemon --start --quiet --background --chuid root \
                                    --make-pidfile --pidfile "${PID_FILE}" \
diff --git a/src/aem-lts/devcontainer-feature.json b/src/aem-lts/devcontainer-feature.json
index a5f8bd5..83122d3 100644
--- a/src/aem-lts/devcontainer-feature.json
+++ b/src/aem-lts/devcontainer-feature.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
     "id": "aem-lts",
-    "version": "1.2.0",
+    "version": "1.2.1",
     "name": "Adobe Experience Manager LTS",
     "description": "Setup author and publish services. Requires the AEM LTS quickstart jar and license details.",
     "options": {
diff --git a/test/aem-lts/defaults-with-quickstart.sh b/test/aem-lts/defaults-with-quickstart.sh
index cfa147f..a3eeef0 100644
--- a/test/aem-lts/defaults-with-quickstart.sh
+++ b/test/aem-lts/defaults-with-quickstart.sh
@@ -40,18 +40,27 @@ test_runmode() {
     check "${service}: no java process should be running" \
         [ -z $(pgrep -x java) ]
 
-    # Test interactive mode: start in background, capture stdout, verify process runs, then kill it
-    INTERACTIVE_LOG=$(mktemp)
-    aem-lts start ${service} -i > ${INTERACTIVE_LOG} &
-    INTERACTIVE_PID=$!
-    check "${service}: interactive mode wait for server started on port ${port}" \
-        timeout 10 bash -c "until grep -q 'Server started on port ${port}' ${INTERACTIVE_LOG} 2>/dev/null; do sleep 0.5; done"
-    check "${service}: interactive mode pid matches java process" \
-        [ $(pgrep -P ${INTERACTIVE_PID} -x java) -eq $(pgrep -x java) ]
-    kill $(pgrep -P ${INTERACTIVE_PID} -x java) 2>/dev/null
+    # Test interactive mode (-i flag): verifies aem-lts starts java in the foreground.
+    # Since the test itself is non-interactive, we background the process with & and
+    # simulate a user CTRL+C by killing java and the shell wrapper explicitly.
+    # set +e is required because killing background jobs causes non-zero exit codes
+    # which would otherwise abort the test script due to set -e at the top.
+    set +e
+    aem-lts start ${service} -i &
+    INTERACTIVE_BG=$!  # pid of the backgrounded aem-lts shell wrapper
+    check "${service}: interactive mode java process starts" \
+        timeout 10 bash -c "until pgrep -x java > /dev/null; do sleep 0.5; done"
+    # java runs as root via sudo sh -c, so sudo pkill is required to send the signal
+    # kill INTERACTIVE_BG terminates the shell wrapper after java is gone
+    sudo pkill -x java 2>/dev/null
+    kill ${INTERACTIVE_BG} 2>/dev/null
+    wait ${INTERACTIVE_BG} 2>/dev/null  # reap the background job to avoid zombies
     check "${service}: interactive mode java process stopped after kill" \
         timeout 10 bash -c "until ! pgrep -x java > /dev/null; do sleep 0.5; done"
-    rm -f ${INTERACTIVE_LOG}
+    # ensures process is fully gone before returning so the next test_runmode call
+    # starts with a clean state
+    until ! pgrep -x java > /dev/null; do sleep 0.5; done
+    set -e
 }
 
 test_runmode author 4502