diff --git a/launcher/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/launcher/SparkClassCommandBuilder.java b/launcher/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/launcher/SparkClassCommandBuilder.java
index d80abf2a8676e69c1bf927de030b7b08a1ff1c96..de85720febf23f2a5ce61879c559cd68633970a1 100644
--- a/launcher/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/launcher/SparkClassCommandBuilder.java
+++ b/launcher/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/launcher/SparkClassCommandBuilder.java
@@ -93,6 +93,9 @@ class SparkClassCommandBuilder extends AbstractCommandBuilder {
         toolsDir.getAbsolutePath(), className);
 
       javaOptsKeys.add("SPARK_JAVA_OPTS");
+    } else {
+      javaOptsKeys.add("SPARK_JAVA_OPTS");
+      memKey = "SPARK_DRIVER_MEMORY";
     }
 
     List<String> cmd = buildJavaCommand(extraClassPath);