diff --git a/compiler/src/dotty/tools/MainGenericRunner.scala b/compiler/src/dotty/tools/MainGenericRunner.scala
index b7ef90dcdc60..151c7d7b8faf 100644
--- a/compiler/src/dotty/tools/MainGenericRunner.scala
+++ b/compiler/src/dotty/tools/MainGenericRunner.scala
@@ -169,7 +169,7 @@ object MainGenericRunner {
       else
         val newSettings = if arg.startsWith("-") then settings else settings.withPossibleEntryPaths(arg).withModeShouldBePossibleRun
         process(tail, newSettings.withResidualArgs(arg))
-
+  end process
       
   def main(args: Array[String]): Unit =
     val scalaOpts = envOrNone("SCALA_OPTS").toArray.flatMap(_.split(" ")).filter(_.nonEmpty)
@@ -200,11 +200,12 @@ object MainGenericRunner {
             Option.when(Jar.isJarOrZip(dotty.tools.io.Path(entryPath)))(Jar(entryPath).mainClass).flatten
           }.isDefined
         }
-        targetToRun match
+        val newSettings = targetToRun match
           case Some(fqName) =>
-            run(settings.withTargetToRun(fqName).withResidualArgs(settings.residualArgs.filter { _ != fqName }*).withExecuteMode(ExecuteMode.Run))
+            settings.withTargetToRun(fqName).copy(residualArgs = settings.residualArgs.filterNot(fqName.==)).withExecuteMode(ExecuteMode.Run)
           case None =>
-            run(settings.withExecuteMode(ExecuteMode.Repl))
+            settings.withExecuteMode(ExecuteMode.Repl)
+        run(newSettings)
       case ExecuteMode.Run =>
         val scalaClasspath = ClasspathFromClassloader(Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader).split(classpathSeparator)
         val newClasspath = (settings.classPath.flatMap(_.split(classpathSeparator).filter(_.nonEmpty)) ++ removeCompiler(scalaClasspath) :+ ".").map(File(_).toURI.toURL)
diff --git a/tests/run-with-compiler/i14541.check b/tests/run-with-compiler/i14541.check
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..38b710956004
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/run-with-compiler/i14541.check
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+hello raw world
+hello run world
diff --git a/tests/run-with-compiler/i14541.scala b/tests/run-with-compiler/i14541.scala
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..0fdfb89674d5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/run-with-compiler/i14541.scala
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+
+// test argument processing and "execution mode" in runner
+object Test:
+  import dotty.tools.runner.RichClassLoader.*
+  val classpath = dotty.tools.dotc.util.ClasspathFromClassloader(getClass.getClassLoader)
+  def main(args: Array[String]): Unit =
+    getClass.getClassLoader.run("echo", List("hello", "raw", "world"))
+    // caution: uses "SCALA_OPTS"
+    dotty.tools.MainGenericRunner.main(Array("--class-path", classpath, "echo", "hello", "run", "world"))
+
+@main def echo(args: String*): Unit = println {
+  args.mkString(" ")
+}