diff --git a/cmd/minikube/cmd/pause.go b/cmd/minikube/cmd/pause.go
index 33ef1f9f04..d7b090ce83 100644
--- a/cmd/minikube/cmd/pause.go
+++ b/cmd/minikube/cmd/pause.go
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/spf13/viper"
 
 	"k8s.io/minikube/pkg/minikube/cluster"
+	"k8s.io/minikube/pkg/minikube/constants"
 	"k8s.io/minikube/pkg/minikube/cruntime"
 	"k8s.io/minikube/pkg/minikube/driver"
 	"k8s.io/minikube/pkg/minikube/exit"
@@ -84,6 +85,6 @@ func runPause(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) {
 }
 
 func init() {
-	pauseCmd.Flags().StringSliceVarP(&namespaces, "--namespaces", "n", cluster.DefaultNamespaces, "namespaces to pause")
+	pauseCmd.Flags().StringSliceVarP(&namespaces, "--namespaces", "n", constants.DefaultNamespaces, "namespaces to pause")
 	pauseCmd.Flags().BoolVarP(&allNamespaces, "all-namespaces", "A", false, "If set, pause all namespaces")
 }
diff --git a/cmd/minikube/cmd/unpause.go b/cmd/minikube/cmd/unpause.go
index d27801fc23..e7295b74cd 100644
--- a/cmd/minikube/cmd/unpause.go
+++ b/cmd/minikube/cmd/unpause.go
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/spf13/viper"
 
 	"k8s.io/minikube/pkg/minikube/cluster"
+	"k8s.io/minikube/pkg/minikube/constants"
 	"k8s.io/minikube/pkg/minikube/cruntime"
 	"k8s.io/minikube/pkg/minikube/driver"
 	"k8s.io/minikube/pkg/minikube/exit"
@@ -82,6 +83,6 @@ var unpauseCmd = &cobra.Command{
 }
 
 func init() {
-	unpauseCmd.Flags().StringSliceVarP(&namespaces, "--namespaces", "n", cluster.DefaultNamespaces, "namespaces to unpause")
+	unpauseCmd.Flags().StringSliceVarP(&namespaces, "--namespaces", "n", constants.DefaultNamespaces, "namespaces to unpause")
 	unpauseCmd.Flags().BoolVarP(&allNamespaces, "all-namespaces", "A", false, "If set, unpause all namespaces")
 }
diff --git a/pkg/drivers/kic/kic.go b/pkg/drivers/kic/kic.go
index 5bf91e9710..78d2e45828 100644
--- a/pkg/drivers/kic/kic.go
+++ b/pkg/drivers/kic/kic.go
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ import (
 	"k8s.io/minikube/pkg/minikube/assets"
 	"k8s.io/minikube/pkg/minikube/command"
 	"k8s.io/minikube/pkg/minikube/constants"
+	"k8s.io/minikube/pkg/minikube/cruntime"
 	"k8s.io/minikube/pkg/minikube/download"
 	"k8s.io/minikube/pkg/minikube/kubelet"
 )
@@ -320,6 +321,27 @@ func (d *Driver) Stop() error {
 	// to avoid bind address be taken on an upgrade. more info https://github.com/kubernetes/minikube/issues/7171
 	if err := kubelet.Stop(d.exec); err != nil {
 		glog.Warningf("couldn't stop kubelet. will continue with stop anyways: %v", err)
+		if err := kubelet.ForceStop(d.exec); err != nil {
+			glog.Warningf("couldn't force stop kubelet. will continue with stop anyways: %v", err)
+		}
+	}
+
+	runtime, err := cruntime.New(cruntime.Config{Type: d.NodeConfig.ContainerRuntime, Runner: d.exec})
+	if err != nil { // won't return error because:
+		// even though we can't stop the cotainers inside, we still wanna stop the minikube container itself
+		glog.Errorf("unable to get container runtime: %v", err)
+	} else {
+		containers, err := runtime.ListContainers(cruntime.ListOptions{Namespaces: constants.DefaultNamespaces})
+		if err != nil {
+			return errors.Wrap(err, "containers")
+		}
+		if len(containers) > 0 {
+			if err := runtime.StopContainers(containers); err != nil {
+				return errors.Wrap(err, "stop containers")
+			}
+		}
+		glog.Infof("successfully stopped kubernetes!")
+
 	}
 
 	cmd := exec.Command(d.NodeConfig.OCIBinary, "stop", d.MachineName)
diff --git a/pkg/drivers/none/none.go b/pkg/drivers/none/none.go
index 6e655183a8..a0be67ff56 100644
--- a/pkg/drivers/none/none.go
+++ b/pkg/drivers/none/none.go
@@ -221,7 +221,8 @@ func (d *Driver) Stop() error {
 	if err := kubelet.Stop(d.exec); err != nil {
 		glog.Warningf("couldn't stop kubelet. will continue with stop anyways: %v", err)
 	}
-	containers, err := d.runtime.ListContainers(cruntime.ListOptions{})
+	containers, err := d.runtime.ListContainers(cruntime.ListOptions{Namespaces: constants.DefaultNamespaces})
+
 	if err != nil {
 		return errors.Wrap(err, "containers")
 	}
diff --git a/pkg/minikube/cluster/pause.go b/pkg/minikube/cluster/pause.go
index 2f98cf6de3..d7661f1274 100644
--- a/pkg/minikube/cluster/pause.go
+++ b/pkg/minikube/cluster/pause.go
@@ -24,14 +24,6 @@ import (
 	"k8s.io/minikube/pkg/minikube/kubelet"
 )
 
-// DefaultNamespaces are namespaces used by minikube, including addons
-var DefaultNamespaces = []string{
-	"kube-system",
-	"kubernetes-dashboard",
-	"storage-gluster",
-	"istio-operator",
-}
-
 // Pause pauses a Kubernetes cluster
 func Pause(cr cruntime.Manager, r command.Runner, namespaces []string) ([]string, error) {
 	ids := []string{}
diff --git a/pkg/minikube/constants/constants.go b/pkg/minikube/constants/constants.go
index ecaa8cdb98..33ae576f48 100644
--- a/pkg/minikube/constants/constants.go
+++ b/pkg/minikube/constants/constants.go
@@ -92,4 +92,12 @@ var (
 	KubernetesReleaseBinaries = []string{"kubelet", "kubeadm", "kubectl"}
 	// ImageCacheDir is the path to the image cache directory
 	ImageCacheDir = localpath.MakeMiniPath("cache", "images")
+
+	// DefaultNamespaces are kubernetes namespaces used by minikube, including addons
+	DefaultNamespaces = []string{
+		"kube-system",
+		"kubernetes-dashboard",
+		"storage-gluster",
+		"istio-operator",
+	}
 )