diff --git a/cicecore/cicedyn/general/ice_init.F90 b/cicecore/cicedyn/general/ice_init.F90
index e966043fb..659711710 100644
--- a/cicecore/cicedyn/general/ice_init.F90
+++ b/cicecore/cicedyn/general/ice_init.F90
@@ -1198,10 +1198,6 @@ subroutine input_data
       call broadcast_scalar(sw_frac,              master_task)
       call broadcast_scalar(sw_dtemp,             master_task)
 
-#ifdef CESMCOUPLED
-      pointer_file = trim(pointer_file) // trim(inst_suffix)
-#endif
-
       !-----------------------------------------------------------------
       ! update defaults
       !-----------------------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/cicecore/cicedyn/infrastructure/io/io_netcdf/ice_restart.F90 b/cicecore/cicedyn/infrastructure/io/io_netcdf/ice_restart.F90
index 9bf3b1d8a..3c0c126b0 100644
--- a/cicecore/cicedyn/infrastructure/io/io_netcdf/ice_restart.F90
+++ b/cicecore/cicedyn/infrastructure/io/io_netcdf/ice_restart.F90
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ subroutine init_restart_read(ice_ic)
          filename = trim(ice_ic)
       else
          if (my_task == master_task) then
-            open(nu_rst_pointer,file=pointer_file)
+            open(nu_rst_pointer,file=pointer_file, status='old')
             read(nu_rst_pointer,'(a)') filename0
             filename = trim(filename0)
             close(nu_rst_pointer)
diff --git a/cicecore/cicedyn/infrastructure/io/io_pio2/ice_restart.F90 b/cicecore/cicedyn/infrastructure/io/io_pio2/ice_restart.F90
index ae3aebd2b..8000b1e05 100644
--- a/cicecore/cicedyn/infrastructure/io/io_pio2/ice_restart.F90
+++ b/cicecore/cicedyn/infrastructure/io/io_pio2/ice_restart.F90
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ subroutine init_restart_read(ice_ic)
          filename = trim(ice_ic)
       else
          if (my_task == master_task) then
-            open(nu_rst_pointer,file=pointer_file)
+            open(nu_rst_pointer,file=pointer_file, status='old')
             read(nu_rst_pointer,'(a)') filename0
             filename = trim(filename0)
             close(nu_rst_pointer)