diff --git a/pkg/systemd/quadlet/quadlet.go b/pkg/systemd/quadlet/quadlet.go
index f652ced092..b21f842725 100644
--- a/pkg/systemd/quadlet/quadlet.go
+++ b/pkg/systemd/quadlet/quadlet.go
@@ -1632,8 +1632,9 @@ func ConvertPod(podUnit *parser.UnitFile, name string, unitsInfoMap map[string]*
 	stringsKeys := map[string]string{
 		KeyIP:  "--ip",
 		KeyIP6: "--ip6",
+		KeyShmSize: "--shm-size",
 	}
-	lookupAndAddAllStrings(podUnit, PodGroup, stringsKeys, execStartPre)
+	lookupAndAddString(podUnit, PodGroup, stringsKeys, execStartPre)
 
 	allStringsKeys := map[string]string{
 		KeyNetworkAlias: "--network-alias",
@@ -1651,11 +1652,6 @@ func ConvertPod(podUnit *parser.UnitFile, name string, unitsInfoMap map[string]*
 	execStartPre.add("--infra-name", fmt.Sprintf("%s-infra", podName))
 	execStartPre.add("--name", podName)
 
-	shmSize, exists := podUnit.Lookup(PodGroup, KeyShmSize)
-	if exists {
-		execStartPre.addf("--shm-size=%s", shmSize)
-	}
-
 	handlePodmanArgs(podUnit, PodGroup, execStartPre)
 
 	service.AddCmdline(ServiceGroup, "ExecStartPre", execStartPre.Args)
diff --git a/test/e2e/quadlet/shmsize.pod b/test/e2e/quadlet/shmsize.pod
index a19ffb8c4c..11ae7cf982 100644
--- a/test/e2e/quadlet/shmsize.pod
+++ b/test/e2e/quadlet/shmsize.pod
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-## assert-podman-pre-args "--shm-size=5g"
+## assert-podman-pre-args "--shm-size" "5g"
 
 [Pod]
 ShmSize=5g