diff --git a/solr/CHANGES.txt b/solr/CHANGES.txt
index 40aead39789..93648908345 100644
--- a/solr/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/solr/CHANGES.txt
@@ -182,6 +182,8 @@ Bug Fixes
 * SOLR-16963: The "solr.jetty.ssl.verifyClientHostName" sysProp and "SOLR_SSL_CLIENT_HOSTNAME_VERIFICATION" envVar have been fixed,
   and the setting once again tells the server to check the originating client hostname against the client certificate when doing mTLS. (Houston Putman, Tomás Fernández Löbbe)
 
+* SOLR-16973: fix REMOTE_JMX_OPTS to delayed expansion (Tiziano Degaetano via Colvin Cowie)
+
 Dependency Upgrades
 ---------------------
 
diff --git a/solr/bin/solr.cmd b/solr/bin/solr.cmd
index d10ac598057..6396646355e 100755
--- a/solr/bin/solr.cmd
+++ b/solr/bin/solr.cmd
@@ -1072,7 +1072,7 @@ IF "%ENABLE_REMOTE_JMX_OPTS%"=="true" (
 -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.port=!RMI_PORT! ^
 -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.rmi.port=!RMI_PORT!
 
-  IF NOT "%SOLR_HOST%"=="" set REMOTE_JMX_OPTS=%REMOTE_JMX_OPTS% -Djava.rmi.server.hostname=%SOLR_HOST%
+  IF NOT "%SOLR_HOST%"=="" set REMOTE_JMX_OPTS=!REMOTE_JMX_OPTS! -Djava.rmi.server.hostname=%SOLR_HOST%
 ) ELSE (
   set REMOTE_JMX_OPTS=
 )
@@ -1210,7 +1210,7 @@ set START_OPTS=%START_OPTS% !GC_TUNE! %GC_LOG_OPTS%
 set START_OPTS=%START_OPTS% -DdisableAdminUI=%DISABLE_ADMIN_UI%
 IF NOT "!CLOUD_MODE_OPTS!"=="" set "START_OPTS=%START_OPTS% !CLOUD_MODE_OPTS!"
 IF NOT "!IP_ACL_OPTS!"=="" set "START_OPTS=%START_OPTS% !IP_ACL_OPTS!"
-IF NOT "%REMOTE_JMX_OPTS%"=="" set "START_OPTS=%START_OPTS% %REMOTE_JMX_OPTS%"
+IF NOT "!REMOTE_JMX_OPTS!"=="" set "START_OPTS=%START_OPTS% !REMOTE_JMX_OPTS!"
 IF NOT "%SOLR_ADDL_ARGS%"=="" set "START_OPTS=%START_OPTS% %SOLR_ADDL_ARGS%"
 IF NOT "%SOLR_HOST_ARG%"=="" set "START_OPTS=%START_OPTS% %SOLR_HOST_ARG%"
 IF NOT "%SCRIPT_SOLR_OPTS%"=="" set "START_OPTS=%START_OPTS% %SCRIPT_SOLR_OPTS%"