diff --git a/src/shared/conf-parser.c b/src/shared/conf-parser.c
index 62fc1c97b7..a495c2538b 100644
--- a/src/shared/conf-parser.c
+++ b/src/shared/conf-parser.c
@@ -138,7 +138,8 @@ static int next_assignment(
 
         /* Warn about unknown non-extension fields. */
         if (!(flags & CONFIG_PARSE_RELAXED) && !startswith(lvalue, "X-"))
-                log_syntax(unit, LOG_WARNING, filename, line, 0, "Unknown lvalue '%s' in section '%s', ignoring", lvalue, section);
+                log_syntax(unit, LOG_WARNING, filename, line, 0,
+                           "Unknown key name '%s' in section '%s', ignoring.", lvalue, section);
 
         return 0;
 }
@@ -239,7 +240,6 @@ static int parse_line(
         }
 
         if (sections && !*section) {
-
                 if (!(flags & CONFIG_PARSE_RELAXED) && !*section_ignored)
                         log_syntax(unit, LOG_WARNING, filename, line, 0, "Assignment outside of section. Ignoring.");
 
@@ -247,10 +247,12 @@ static int parse_line(
         }
 
         e = strchr(l, '=');
-        if (!e) {
-                log_syntax(unit, LOG_WARNING, filename, line, 0, "Missing '='.");
-                return -EINVAL;
-        }
+        if (!e)
+                return log_syntax(unit, LOG_WARNING, filename, line, 0,
+                                  "Missing '=', ignoring line.");
+        if (e == l)
+                return log_syntax(unit, LOG_WARNING, filename, line, 0,
+                                  "Missing key name before '=', ignoring line.");
 
         *e = 0;
         e++;