diff --git a/pkg/cmd/roachprod/install/cockroach.go b/pkg/cmd/roachprod/install/cockroach.go
index fa8abc83b4a0..4a146eb7cb84 100644
--- a/pkg/cmd/roachprod/install/cockroach.go
+++ b/pkg/cmd/roachprod/install/cockroach.go
@@ -457,9 +457,11 @@ func (h *crdbInstallHelper) generateStartArgs(
 	}
 
 	logDir := h.c.Impl.LogDir(h.c, nodes[nodeIdx])
-	if vers.AtLeast(version.MustParse("v21.1.0")) {
+	if vers.AtLeast(version.MustParse("v21.1.0-alpha.0")) {
 		// Specify exit-on-error=false to work around #62763.
 		args = append(args, `--log "file-defaults: {dir: '`+logDir+`', exit-on-error: false}"`)
+	} else {
+		args = append(args, "--log-dir="+logDir)
 	}
 
 	if vers.AtLeast(version.MustParse("v1.1.0")) {