diff --git a/fairmq/options/FairMQProgOptions.cxx b/fairmq/options/FairMQProgOptions.cxx
index 98183b0a..1d7b28a1 100644
--- a/fairmq/options/FairMQProgOptions.cxx
+++ b/fairmq/options/FairMQProgOptions.cxx
@@ -30,6 +30,8 @@ FairMQProgOptions::FairMQProgOptions()
     , fChannelInfo()
     , fMQKeyMap()
 {
+    InitOptionDescription();
+    ParseDefaults(fCmdLineOptions);
 }
 
 FairMQProgOptions::~FairMQProgOptions()
@@ -50,8 +52,6 @@ int FairMQProgOptions::ParseAll(const vector<string>& cmdLineArgs, bool allowUnr
 
 int FairMQProgOptions::ParseAll(const int argc, char const* const* argv, bool allowUnregistered)
 {
-    InitOptionDescription();
-
     if (FairProgOptions::ParseCmdLine(argc, argv, fCmdLineOptions, fVarMap, allowUnregistered))
     {
         // ParseCmdLine returns 0 if no immediate switches found.
diff --git a/fairmq/options/FairProgOptions.cxx b/fairmq/options/FairProgOptions.cxx
index e3bec096..cf730df0 100644
--- a/fairmq/options/FairProgOptions.cxx
+++ b/fairmq/options/FairProgOptions.cxx
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
 
 #include <iomanip>
 #include <sstream>
+#include <algorithm>
 
 using namespace std;
 
@@ -87,6 +88,21 @@ int FairProgOptions::ParseCmdLine(const int argc, char const* const* argv, const
     return ParseCmdLine(argc, argv, desc, fVarMap, allowUnregistered);
 }
 
+void FairProgOptions::ParseDefaults(const po::options_description& desc)
+{
+    vector<string> emptyArgs;
+    emptyArgs.push_back("dummy");
+
+    vector<const char*> argv(emptyArgs.size());
+
+    transform(emptyArgs.begin(), emptyArgs.end(), argv.begin(), [](const string& str)
+    {
+        return str.c_str();
+    });
+
+    po::store(po::parse_command_line(argv.size(), const_cast<char**>(argv.data()), desc), fVarMap);
+}
+
 int FairProgOptions::PrintOptions()
 {
     // Method to overload.
diff --git a/fairmq/options/FairProgOptions.h b/fairmq/options/FairProgOptions.h
index d5e8a1e1..0fb09e93 100644
--- a/fairmq/options/FairProgOptions.h
+++ b/fairmq/options/FairProgOptions.h
@@ -161,6 +161,7 @@ class FairProgOptions
     // boost prog options parsers
     int ParseCmdLine(const int argc, char const* const* argv, const po::options_description& desc, po::variables_map& varmap, bool allowUnregistered = false);
     int ParseCmdLine(const int argc, char const* const* argv, const po::options_description& desc, bool allowUnregistered = false);
+    void ParseDefaults(const po::options_description& desc);
 
     virtual int ParseAll(const int argc, char const* const* argv, bool allowUnregistered = false) = 0;// TODO change return type to bool and propagate to executable
 
diff --git a/fairmq/test/message_resize/_message_resize.cxx b/fairmq/test/message_resize/_message_resize.cxx
index 2a4bc0e8..eb9ef611 100644
--- a/fairmq/test/message_resize/_message_resize.cxx
+++ b/fairmq/test/message_resize/_message_resize.cxx
@@ -27,8 +27,6 @@ auto RunPushPullWithMsgResize(string transport, string address) -> void {
 
     FairMQProgOptions config;
     config.SetValue<string>("session", to_string(session));
-    config.SetValue<int>("io-threads", 1);
-    config.SetValue<size_t>("shm-segment-size", 20000000);
 
     auto factory = FairMQTransportFactory::CreateTransportFactory(transport, fair::mq::tools::Uuid(), &config);
 
diff --git a/fairmq/test/protocols/_push_pull_multipart.cxx b/fairmq/test/protocols/_push_pull_multipart.cxx
index 8c3f5b91..a4269586 100644
--- a/fairmq/test/protocols/_push_pull_multipart.cxx
+++ b/fairmq/test/protocols/_push_pull_multipart.cxx
@@ -31,8 +31,6 @@ auto RunSingleThreadedMultipart(string transport, string address) -> void {
 
     FairMQProgOptions config;
     config.SetValue<string>("session", std::to_string(session));
-    config.SetValue<int>("io-threads", 1);
-    config.SetValue<size_t>("shm-segment-size", 20000000);
     auto factory = FairMQTransportFactory::CreateTransportFactory(transport, fair::mq::tools::Uuid(), &config);
     auto push = FairMQChannel{"Push", "push", factory};
     ASSERT_TRUE(push.Bind(address));