diff --git a/example/test.sh b/example/test.sh
index 80bda65..53aceb5 100755
--- a/example/test.sh
+++ b/example/test.sh
@@ -109,9 +109,11 @@ test_mount() {
     work="$(mktemp -d)"
     img="slim-test-mount"
     share_dir="$work/share"
+    share_dir2="$work/share2"
 
-    mkdir -p "$share_dir"
+    mkdir -p "$share_dir" "$share_dir2"
     echo "hello from host" > "$share_dir/testfile.txt"
+    echo "second share" > "$share_dir2/testfile2.txt"
 
     cat > "$work/Containerfile" <<'EOF'
 FROM alpine:latest
@@ -136,16 +138,20 @@ EOF
     # The 9p share appears at the same path inside the VM as on the host.
     # Use --cmd to run the verification snippet with the canonical path.
     share_canon=$(readlink -f "$share_dir")
+    share_canon2=$(readlink -f "$share_dir2")
 
-    echo "-- Booting VM with --mount $share_dir ..."
+    echo "-- Booting VM with --mount $share_dir --mount $share_dir2 ..."
     output=$(timeout "$TIMEOUT" "$SLIM_BIN" run "$img" \
         --mount "$share_dir" \
-        --cmd "echo Available 9p shares:; for f in /sys/bus/virtio/drivers/9pnet_virtio/virtio*/mount_tag; do [ -f \"\$f\" ] && echo \"\$f: \$(tr -d '\\0' < \"\$f\")\"; done; echo Mounts:; mount -v; cat \"${share_canon}/testfile.txt\" 2>/dev/null || echo NO_FILE; echo MOUNT_VERIFY_DONE; poweroff -f" \
+        --mount "$share_dir2" \
+        --cmd "echo Available 9p shares:; for f in /sys/bus/virtio/drivers/9pnet_virtio/virtio*/mount_tag; do [ -f \"\$f\" ] && echo \"\$f: \$(tr -d '\\0' < \"\$f\")\"; done; echo Mounts:; mount -v; cat \"${share_canon}/testfile.txt\" 2>/dev/null || echo NO_FILE; cat \"${share_canon2}/testfile2.txt\" 2>/dev/null || echo NO_FILE2; echo MOUNT_VERIFY_DONE; poweroff -f" \
         2>&1 || true)
 
     check_output "$output" "mount_tag: slim0" "--mount 9p share detected"
+    check_output "$output" "mount_tag: slim1" "--mount second 9p share detected"
     check_output "$output" "type 9p" "--mount 9p filesystem in mount list"
     check_output "$output" "hello from host" "--mount file accessible in VM"
+    check_output "$output" "second share" "--mount second share file accessible in VM"
     check_output "$output" "MOUNT_VERIFY_DONE" "--mount VM ran to completion"
 
     cleanup "$img" "$img"
diff --git a/src/qemu.rs b/src/qemu.rs
index e794f16..7780e01 100644
--- a/src/qemu.rs
+++ b/src/qemu.rs
@@ -101,9 +101,12 @@ pub(crate) fn run(
         let tag = format!("slim{i}");
         let dest_b64 = base64::engine::general_purpose::STANDARD.encode(path_str.as_bytes());
 
+        // QEMU's QemuOpts splits on commas — escape literal commas in the
+        // path as ",," per QEMU convention.
+        let path_escaped = path_str.replace(',', ",,");
         virtfs_args.push("-virtfs".into());
         virtfs_args.push(format!(
-            "local,path={path_str},mount_tag={tag},security_model=mapped-xattr"
+            "local,path={path_escaped},mount_tag={tag},security_model=mapped-xattr"
         ));
         cmdline.push(format!("slim.mount={tag}:{dest_b64}"));
     }
diff --git a/src/scripts/slim-init.sh b/src/scripts/slim-init.sh
index 7685e22..483dd6b 100644
--- a/src/scripts/slim-init.sh
+++ b/src/scripts/slim-init.sh
@@ -2,6 +2,11 @@
 # slim universal init - distro-agnostic VM bootstrap.
 # Injected by `slim build` at /slim/init and invoked via init=/slim/init.
 
+# === Helpers ===
+b64dec() {
+    printf '%s' "$1" | base64 -d 2>/dev/null || printf '%s' "$1" | openssl base64 -d 2>/dev/null
+}
+
 # === Devices & special filesystems ===
 [ -c /dev/console ] || mknod -m 600 /dev/console c 5 1
 mkdir -p /proc /sys /dev/pts /dev/shm
@@ -45,9 +50,7 @@ for tok in $(cat /proc/cmdline 2>/dev/null); do
             v=${tok#slim.mount=}
             tag=${v%%:*}
             dest_b64=${v#*:}
-            dest=$(printf '%s' "$dest_b64" | base64 -d 2>/dev/null) \
-                || dest=$(printf '%s' "$dest_b64" | openssl base64 -d 2>/dev/null) \
-                || echo "base64 decode failed"
+            dest=$(b64dec "$dest_b64") || echo "base64 decode failed"
             if [ -n "$tag" ] && [ -n "$dest" ]; then
                 mkdir -p "$dest"
                 mount -t 9p "$tag" "$dest" -o trans=virtio,version=9p2000.L 2>/dev/null \
@@ -66,9 +69,7 @@ for tok in $(cat /proc/cmdline 2>/dev/null); do
     case "$tok" in
         slim.cmd=*)
             v=${tok#slim.cmd=}
-            decoded=$(printf '%s' "$v" | base64 -d 2>/dev/null) \
-                || decoded=$(printf '%s' "$v" | openssl base64 -d 2>/dev/null) \
-                || echo "base64 decode failed"
+            decoded=$(b64dec "$v") || echo "base64 decode failed"
             if [ -n "$decoded" ]; then
                 exec /bin/sh -c "$decoded"
             fi