diff --git a/plugins/synced_folders/rsync/helper.rb b/plugins/synced_folders/rsync/helper.rb
index a3c9decdc9d..e3b0ef90b37 100644
--- a/plugins/synced_folders/rsync/helper.rb
+++ b/plugins/synced_folders/rsync/helper.rb
@@ -30,6 +30,10 @@ def self.exclude_to_regexp(exclude)
           exclude      = exclude[1..-1]
         end
 
+        exclude = "#{exclude}/" if !exclude.end_with?("/")
+        exclude = "^#{exclude}"
+        exclude += ".*" if !start_anchor
+
         # This is not an ideal solution, but it's a start. We can improve and
         # keep unit tests passing in the future.
         exclude = exclude.gsub("**", "|||GLOBAL|||")
diff --git a/test/unit/plugins/synced_folders/rsync/helper_test.rb b/test/unit/plugins/synced_folders/rsync/helper_test.rb
index aea2f198bf3..24c47d05b45 100644
--- a/test/unit/plugins/synced_folders/rsync/helper_test.rb
+++ b/test/unit/plugins/synced_folders/rsync/helper_test.rb
@@ -33,22 +33,22 @@
 
     it "converts a directory match" do
       expect(described_class.exclude_to_regexp("foo/")).
-        to eq(/foo\//)
+        to eq(/^foo\/.[^\/]*/)
     end
 
     it "converts the start anchor" do
       expect(described_class.exclude_to_regexp("/foo")).
-        to eq(/foo/)
+        to eq(/^foo\//)
     end
 
     it "converts the **" do
       expect(described_class.exclude_to_regexp("fo**o")).
-        to eq(/fo.*o/)
+        to eq(/^fo.*o\/.[^\/]*/)
     end
 
     it "converts the *" do
       expect(described_class.exclude_to_regexp("fo*o")).
-        to eq(/fo[^\/]*o/)
+        to eq(/^fo[^\/]*o\/.[^\/]*/)
     end
   end