diff --git a/pkg/minikube/cruntime/containerd.go b/pkg/minikube/cruntime/containerd.go
index 570407b61a..864f70b067 100644
--- a/pkg/minikube/cruntime/containerd.go
+++ b/pkg/minikube/cruntime/containerd.go
@@ -197,12 +197,17 @@ func generateContainerdConfig(cr CommandRunner, imageRepository string, kv semve
 }
 
 // Enable idempotently enables containerd on a host
-func (r *Containerd) Enable(disOthers bool) error {
+func (r *Containerd) Enable(disOthers, forceSystemd bool) error {
 	if disOthers {
 		if err := disableOthers(r, r.Runner); err != nil {
 			glog.Warningf("disableOthers: %v", err)
 		}
 	}
+	if forceSystemd {
+		if err := r.ForceSystemd(); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+	}
 	if err := populateCRIConfig(r.Runner, r.SocketPath()); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
diff --git a/pkg/minikube/cruntime/crio.go b/pkg/minikube/cruntime/crio.go
index 4ff52cc37e..b9ab117459 100644
--- a/pkg/minikube/cruntime/crio.go
+++ b/pkg/minikube/cruntime/crio.go
@@ -110,12 +110,17 @@ func (r *CRIO) Active() bool {
 }
 
 // Enable idempotently enables CRIO on a host
-func (r *CRIO) Enable(disOthers bool) error {
+func (r *CRIO) Enable(disOthers, forceSystemd bool) error {
 	if disOthers {
 		if err := disableOthers(r, r.Runner); err != nil {
 			glog.Warningf("disableOthers: %v", err)
 		}
 	}
+	if forceSystemd {
+		if err := r.ForceSystemd(); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+	}
 	if err := populateCRIConfig(r.Runner, r.SocketPath()); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
diff --git a/pkg/minikube/cruntime/cruntime.go b/pkg/minikube/cruntime/cruntime.go
index 3a5ad43d89..212709ee5b 100644
--- a/pkg/minikube/cruntime/cruntime.go
+++ b/pkg/minikube/cruntime/cruntime.go
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ type Manager interface {
 	// Version retrieves the current version of this runtime
 	Version() (string, error)
 	// Enable idempotently enables this runtime on a host
-	Enable(bool) error
+	Enable(bool, bool) error
 	// Disable idempotently disables this runtime on a host
 	Disable() error
 	// Active returns whether or not a runtime is active on a host
diff --git a/pkg/minikube/cruntime/docker.go b/pkg/minikube/cruntime/docker.go
index eb4c8030df..7f51fb3a3d 100644
--- a/pkg/minikube/cruntime/docker.go
+++ b/pkg/minikube/cruntime/docker.go
@@ -25,7 +25,6 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/golang/glog"
 	"github.com/pkg/errors"
-	"github.com/spf13/viper"
 	"k8s.io/minikube/pkg/minikube/assets"
 	"k8s.io/minikube/pkg/minikube/bootstrapper/images"
 	"k8s.io/minikube/pkg/minikube/command"
@@ -104,15 +103,17 @@ func (r *Docker) Active() bool {
 }
 
 // Enable idempotently enables Docker on a host
-func (r *Docker) Enable(disOthers bool) error {
+func (r *Docker) Enable(disOthers, forceSystemd bool) error {
 	if disOthers {
 		if err := disableOthers(r, r.Runner); err != nil {
 			glog.Warningf("disableOthers: %v", err)
 		}
 	}
 
-	if err := r.ForceSystemd(); err != nil {
-		return errors.Wrap(err, "forcing systemd")
+	if forceSystemd {
+		if err := r.ForceSystemd(); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
 	}
 
 	return r.Init.Start("docker")
@@ -281,9 +282,6 @@ func (r *Docker) SystemLogCmd(len int) string {
 
 // ForceSystemd forces the docker daemon to use systemd as cgroup manager
 func (r *Docker) ForceSystemd() error {
-	if !viper.GetBool("force-systemd") {
-		return nil
-	}
 	daemonConfig := `{
 "exec-opts": ["native.cgroupdriver=systemd"],
 "log-driver": "json-file",
diff --git a/pkg/minikube/node/start.go b/pkg/minikube/node/start.go
index 5f2aecb0d9..aa6a908e0b 100644
--- a/pkg/minikube/node/start.go
+++ b/pkg/minikube/node/start.go
@@ -255,7 +255,7 @@ func configureRuntimes(runner cruntime.CommandRunner, cc config.ClusterConfig, k
 		}
 	}
 
-	err = cr.Enable(disableOthers)
+	err = cr.Enable(disableOthers, viper.GetBool("force-systemd"))
 	if err != nil {
 		debug.PrintStack()
 		exit.WithError("Failed to enable container runtime", err)