diff --git a/pkg/minikube/bootstrapper/images/kubeadm.go b/pkg/minikube/bootstrapper/images/kubeadm.go
index 2c3ea23b62..49a351786c 100644
--- a/pkg/minikube/bootstrapper/images/kubeadm.go
+++ b/pkg/minikube/bootstrapper/images/kubeadm.go
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ limitations under the License.
 package images
 
 import (
+	"fmt"
 	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/blang/semver"
@@ -29,6 +30,12 @@ func Kubeadm(mirror string, version string) ([]string, error) {
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, errors.Wrap(err, "semver")
 	}
+	if v.Major > 1 {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("version too new: %v", v)
+	}
+	if semver.MustParseRange("<1.11.0-alpha.0")(v) {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("version too old: %v", v)
+	}
 	imgs := essentials(mirror, v)
 	imgs = append(imgs, auxiliary(mirror)...)
 	return imgs, nil
diff --git a/pkg/minikube/bootstrapper/images/kubeadm_test.go b/pkg/minikube/bootstrapper/images/kubeadm_test.go
index 238c068d38..17098145af 100644
--- a/pkg/minikube/bootstrapper/images/kubeadm_test.go
+++ b/pkg/minikube/bootstrapper/images/kubeadm_test.go
@@ -28,9 +28,13 @@ func TestKubeadmImages(t *testing.T) {
 	tests := []struct {
 		version string
 		mirror  string
+		invalid bool
 		want    []string
 	}{
-		{"v1.17.0", "", []string{
+		{"invalid", "", true, nil},
+		{"v0.0.1", "", true, nil}, // too old
+		{"v2.0.0", "", true, nil}, // too new
+		{"v1.17.0", "", false, []string{
 			"k8s.gcr.io/kube-proxy:v1.17.0",
 			"k8s.gcr.io/kube-scheduler:v1.17.0",
 			"k8s.gcr.io/kube-controller-manager:v1.17.0",
@@ -42,7 +46,7 @@ func TestKubeadmImages(t *testing.T) {
 			"docker.io/kubernetesui/dashboard:v2.1.0",
 			"docker.io/kubernetesui/metrics-scraper:v1.0.4",
 		}},
-		{"v1.16.1", "mirror.k8s.io", []string{
+		{"v1.16.1", "mirror.k8s.io", false, []string{
 			"mirror.k8s.io/kube-proxy:v1.16.1",
 			"mirror.k8s.io/kube-scheduler:v1.16.1",
 			"mirror.k8s.io/kube-controller-manager:v1.16.1",
@@ -54,7 +58,7 @@ func TestKubeadmImages(t *testing.T) {
 			"mirror.k8s.io/dashboard:v2.1.0",
 			"mirror.k8s.io/metrics-scraper:v1.0.4",
 		}},
-		{"v1.15.0", "", []string{
+		{"v1.15.0", "", false, []string{
 			"k8s.gcr.io/kube-proxy:v1.15.0",
 			"k8s.gcr.io/kube-scheduler:v1.15.0",
 			"k8s.gcr.io/kube-controller-manager:v1.15.0",
@@ -66,7 +70,7 @@ func TestKubeadmImages(t *testing.T) {
 			"docker.io/kubernetesui/dashboard:v2.1.0",
 			"docker.io/kubernetesui/metrics-scraper:v1.0.4",
 		}},
-		{"v1.14.0", "", []string{
+		{"v1.14.0", "", false, []string{
 			"k8s.gcr.io/kube-proxy:v1.14.0",
 			"k8s.gcr.io/kube-scheduler:v1.14.0",
 			"k8s.gcr.io/kube-controller-manager:v1.14.0",
@@ -78,7 +82,7 @@ func TestKubeadmImages(t *testing.T) {
 			"docker.io/kubernetesui/dashboard:v2.1.0",
 			"docker.io/kubernetesui/metrics-scraper:v1.0.4",
 		}},
-		{"v1.13.0", "", []string{
+		{"v1.13.0", "", false, []string{
 			"k8s.gcr.io/kube-proxy:v1.13.0",
 			"k8s.gcr.io/kube-scheduler:v1.13.0",
 			"k8s.gcr.io/kube-controller-manager:v1.13.0",
@@ -90,7 +94,7 @@ func TestKubeadmImages(t *testing.T) {
 			"docker.io/kubernetesui/dashboard:v2.1.0",
 			"docker.io/kubernetesui/metrics-scraper:v1.0.4",
 		}},
-		{"v1.12.0", "", []string{
+		{"v1.12.0", "", false, []string{
 			"k8s.gcr.io/kube-proxy:v1.12.0",
 			"k8s.gcr.io/kube-scheduler:v1.12.0",
 			"k8s.gcr.io/kube-controller-manager:v1.12.0",
@@ -102,11 +106,27 @@ func TestKubeadmImages(t *testing.T) {
 			"docker.io/kubernetesui/dashboard:v2.1.0",
 			"docker.io/kubernetesui/metrics-scraper:v1.0.4",
 		}},
+		{"v1.11.0", "", false, []string{
+			"k8s.gcr.io/kube-proxy:v1.11.0",
+			"k8s.gcr.io/kube-scheduler:v1.11.0",
+			"k8s.gcr.io/kube-controller-manager:v1.11.0",
+			"k8s.gcr.io/kube-apiserver:v1.11.0",
+			"k8s.gcr.io/coredns:1.1.3",
+			"k8s.gcr.io/etcd:3.2.18",
+			"k8s.gcr.io/pause:3.1",
+			"gcr.io/k8s-minikube/storage-provisioner:" + version.GetStorageProvisionerVersion(),
+			"docker.io/kubernetesui/dashboard:v2.1.0",
+			"docker.io/kubernetesui/metrics-scraper:v1.0.4",
+		}},
+		{"v1.10.0", "", true, nil},
 	}
 	for _, tc := range tests {
 		got, err := Kubeadm(tc.mirror, tc.version)
-		if err != nil {
-			t.Fatalf("unexpected err: %v", err)
+		if err == nil && tc.invalid {
+			t.Fatalf("expected err (%s): %v", tc.version, got)
+		}
+		if err != nil && !tc.invalid {
+			t.Fatalf("unexpected err (%s): %v", tc.version, err)
 		}
 		sort.Strings(got)
 		sort.Strings(tc.want)