diff --git a/scripts/pairinghelper.sh b/scripts/pairinghelper.sh
index 94ee2756..c4aea0fe 100755
--- a/scripts/pairinghelper.sh
+++ b/scripts/pairinghelper.sh
@@ -1,64 +1,131 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 
-# Set location of the config file
-conf_path=/etc/forked-daapd.conf
+# Default config file
+conf_path="/etc/forked-daapd.conf"
 
-if [ ! -f $conf_path ]; then
-	echo "Error: Couldn't find $conf_path"
-	echo "Set the correct config file location in the script"
-	exit
+usage() {
+  echo "Interactive script pair Remote with forked-daapd"
+  echo
+  echo "Usage: ${0##*/} [ <config-file> ]"
+  echo
+  echo "Parameters:"
+  echo "  -h           Show this help"
+  echo " <config-file> Config file (default=$conf_path)"
+  echo
+  echo "Note: forked-daapd needs to be running..."
+  exit $1
+}
+
+case $1 in
+  -h) usage 0;;
+  -*) usage 1;;
+esac
+
+[ -n "$1" ] && conf_path="$1"
+
+if [ ! -f "$conf_path" ]; then
+  echo "Error: Couldn't find config file '$conf_path'"
+  echo
+  usage 1
 fi
 
 logfile=`awk '$1=="logfile"{print $3}' $conf_path`
 logfile="${logfile%\"}"
 logfile="${logfile#\"}"
+[ -z "$logfile" ] && logfile="/var/log/forked-daapd.log"
+if [ ! -r "$logfile" ]; then
+  echo "Error: Couldn't read logfile '$logfile'"
+  echo "Verify 'logfile' setting in config file '$conf_path'"
+  exit 1
+fi
+
 library_path=`awk '$1=="directories"{print}' $conf_path`
 library_path="${library_path#*\"}"
 library_path="${library_path%%\"*}"
+if [ -z "$library_path" ]; then
+  echo "Couldn't find 'directories' setting in config file '$conf_path'"
+  exit 1
+fi
+if [ ! -d "$library_path" ]; then
+  echo "Error: Couldn't find library '$library_path'"
+  echo "Verify 'directories' setting in config file '$conf_path'"
+  exit 1
+fi
 
-if [ ! -f $logfile ]; then
-	echo "Error: Couldn't find logfile in $logfile"
-	exit
-fi
-if [ ! -d $library_path ]; then
-	echo "Error: Couldn't find library in $library_path"
-	exit
-fi
+rf="$library_path/pair.remote"
+[ -f "$rf" ] && rm -f "$rf"
+[ -f "$rf" ] && echo "Unable to remove existing pairing file '$rf'" && exit 1
 
 echo "This script will help you pair Remote with forked-daapd"
 echo "Please verify that these paths are correct:"
-echo "  Log file: $logfile"
-echo "  Library:  $library_path"
+echo "  Log file: '$logfile'"
+echo "  Library:  '$library_path'"
 read -p "Confirm? [Y/n] " yn
-if [ "$yn" = "n" ]; then
-	exit
-fi
+case "$yn" in
+  [N]*|[n]*) exit;;
+esac
+
 echo "Please start the pairing process in Remote by selecting Add library"
 read -p "Press ENTER when ready..." yn
-echo -n "Looking in $logfile for Remote announcement..."
-sleep 5
+printf %s "Looking in $logfile for Remote announcement..."
 
-remote=`grep "Discovered remote" $logfile | tail -1 | grep -Po "'.*' \("`
-remote="${remote%\'\ \(}"
-remote="${remote#\'}"
+n=5
+while [ $n -gt 0 ]; do
+  n=`expr $n - 1`
+  remote=`tail -50 "$logfile" | grep "Discovered remote" | tail -1 | grep -o "'.*' ("`
+  remote="${remote%\'\ \(}"
+  remote="${remote#\'}"
+  [ -n "$remote" ] && break
+  sleep 2
+done
 
 if [ -z "$remote" ]; then
-	echo "not found"
-	exit
-else
-	echo "found"
+  echo "not found!"
+  exit 1
 fi
+echo "found"
 
 read -p "Ready to pair Remote '$remote', please enter PIN: " pin
 if [ -z "$pin" ]; then
-	echo "Error: Invalid PIN"
-	exit
+  echo "Error: Invalid PIN"
+  exit 1
 fi
 
 echo "Writing pair.remote to $library_path..."
-printf "$remote\n$pin" > "$library_path/pair.remote"
-sleep 1
-echo "Removing pair.remote from library again..."
-rm "$library_path/pair.remote"
-echo "All done"
+printf "$remote\n$pin" > "$rf"
+if [ ! -f "$rf" ]; then
+  echo "Unable to create '$rf' - check directory permissions"
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+# leave enough time for deferred file processing on BSD
+n=20
+echo "Waiting for pairing to complete (up to $n secs)..."
+while [ $n -gt 0 ]; do
+  n=`expr $n - 1`
+  result=`tail -1000 "$logfile" | sed -n "/.*remote:/ s,.*remote: ,,p" | awk '/^Discovered remote/{ f="" } /^Read Remote pairing data/ { f=$0; } END { print f }'`
+  [ -n "$result" ] && break
+  sleep 1
+done
+if [ -z "$result" ]; then
+  echo "forked-daap doesn't appear to be finding $rf..."
+  echo "Check $logfile, removing pair.remote"
+  rm "$rf"
+  exit 1
+fi
+echo "Pairing file pair.remote read, removing it"
+rm "$rf"
+
+n=5
+while [ $n -gt 0 ]; do
+  n=`expr $n - 1`
+  result=`tail -1000 "$logfile" | sed -n "/.*remote:/ s,.*remote: ,,p" | awk '/^Discovered remote/{ f="" } /^Pairing succeeded/ { f=$0; } END { print f }'`
+  if [ -n "$result" ]; then
+    echo "All done"
+    exit
+  fi
+  sleep 1
+done
+echo "Pairing appears to have failed... check $rf for details"
+exit 1