diff --git a/dgamelaunch.c b/dgamelaunch.c
index a03d049..cdacfb5 100644
--- a/dgamelaunch.c
+++ b/dgamelaunch.c
@@ -719,11 +719,11 @@ void
 shm_mk_keys(key_t *shm_key, key_t *shm_sem_key)
 {
 #ifdef USE_SHMEM
-    if ((*shm_key = ftok("dgamelaunch", 'R')) == -1) {
+    if ((*shm_key = ftok(globalconfig.passwd, 'R')) == -1) {
 	debug_write("ftok shm_key");
 	graceful_exit(71);
     }
-    if ((*shm_sem_key = ftok("dgamelaunch", 'S')) == -1) {
+    if ((*shm_sem_key = ftok(globalconfig.passwd, 'S')) == -1) {
 	debug_write("ftok shm_sem_key");
 	graceful_exit(72);
     }
diff --git a/examples/dgamelaunch.conf b/examples/dgamelaunch.conf
index 3d3e488..7c9dea5 100644
--- a/examples/dgamelaunch.conf
+++ b/examples/dgamelaunch.conf
@@ -107,6 +107,8 @@ default_term = "xterm"
 # Passwd refers to the file that stores the user database.
 # The default passwd file is "/dgl-login" for flat-text database, and for
 # sqlite, whatever value was defined for the sqlite database at compile time.
+# This is also used for the shared memory key, if shmem is enabled at compile
+# time.
 #passwd = "/dgl-login"
 
 # Lockfile is used only when dgl was compiled without sqlite.