diff --git a/cmd/auto-pause/auto-pause.go b/cmd/auto-pause/auto-pause.go
index 52cc8cd2be..0eb0830e8d 100644
--- a/cmd/auto-pause/auto-pause.go
+++ b/cmd/auto-pause/auto-pause.go
@@ -36,7 +36,6 @@ var unpauseRequests = make(chan struct{})
 var done = make(chan struct{})
 var mu sync.Mutex
 
-// TODO: initialize with current state (handle the case that user enables auto-pause after it is already paused)
 var runtimePaused bool
 var version = "0.0.1"
 
@@ -48,7 +47,7 @@ func main() {
 	const interval = time.Minute * 1
 
 	// Check current state
-	CheckIfPaused()
+	alreadyPaused()
 
 	// channel for incoming messages
 	go func() {
@@ -126,7 +125,7 @@ func runUnpause() {
 	out.Step(style.Unpause, "Unpaused {{.count}} containers", out.V{"count": len(uids)})
 }
 
-func CheckIfPaused() {
+func alreadyPaused() {
 	mu.Lock()
 	defer mu.Unlock()
 
@@ -137,5 +136,8 @@ func CheckIfPaused() {
 	}
 
 	runtimePaused, err = cluster.CheckIfPaused(cr, []string{"kube-system"})
+	if err != nil {
+		exit.Error(reason.GuestCheckPaused, "Fail check if container paused", err)
+	}
 	out.Step(style.Check, "containers paused status: {{.paused}}", out.V{"paused": runtimePaused})
 }
diff --git a/pkg/minikube/reason/reason.go b/pkg/minikube/reason/reason.go
index b2781f0bb9..40dc02acb7 100644
--- a/pkg/minikube/reason/reason.go
+++ b/pkg/minikube/reason/reason.go
@@ -263,6 +263,7 @@ var (
 	GuestStatus           = Kind{ID: "GUEST_STATUS", ExitCode: ExGuestError}
 	GuestStopTimeout      = Kind{ID: "GUEST_STOP_TIMEOUT", ExitCode: ExGuestTimeout}
 	GuestUnpause          = Kind{ID: "GUEST_UNPAUSE", ExitCode: ExGuestError}
+	GuestCheckPaused      = Kind{ID: "GUEST_CHECK_PAUSED", ExitCode: ExGuestError}
 	GuestDrvMismatch      = Kind{ID: "GUEST_DRIVER_MISMATCH", ExitCode: ExGuestConflict, Style: style.Conflict}
 	GuestMissingConntrack = Kind{ID: "GUEST_MISSING_CONNTRACK", ExitCode: ExGuestUnsupported}