diff --git a/deploy/addons/assets.go b/deploy/addons/assets.go
index dfbdbfa379..9031cb4a99 100644
--- a/deploy/addons/assets.go
+++ b/deploy/addons/assets.go
@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@ import "embed"
 var (
 	// AutoPauseAssets assets for auto-pause addon
 	//go:embed auto-pause/*.tmpl
-	//go:embed auto-pause/auto-pause.service
 	//go:embed auto-pause/unpause.lua
 	AutoPauseAssets embed.FS
 
diff --git a/deploy/addons/auto-pause/auto-pause.service b/deploy/addons/auto-pause/auto-pause.service.tmpl
similarity index 62%
rename from deploy/addons/auto-pause/auto-pause.service
rename to deploy/addons/auto-pause/auto-pause.service.tmpl
index 7d763ca68a..0a5260a7b4 100644
--- a/deploy/addons/auto-pause/auto-pause.service
+++ b/deploy/addons/auto-pause/auto-pause.service.tmpl
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ Description=Auto Pause Service
 
 [Service]
 Type=simple
-ExecStart=/bin/auto-pause
+ExecStart=/bin/auto-pause --container-runtime={{.ContainerRuntime}}
 Restart=always
 
 [Install]
diff --git a/pkg/addons/addons_autopause.go b/pkg/addons/addons_autopause.go
index c4ead7f7ce..ec8836fa4f 100644
--- a/pkg/addons/addons_autopause.go
+++ b/pkg/addons/addons_autopause.go
@@ -25,11 +25,9 @@ import (
 	"k8s.io/minikube/pkg/minikube/config"
 	"k8s.io/minikube/pkg/minikube/constants"
 	"k8s.io/minikube/pkg/minikube/driver"
-	"k8s.io/minikube/pkg/minikube/exit"
 	"k8s.io/minikube/pkg/minikube/kubeconfig"
 	"k8s.io/minikube/pkg/minikube/mustload"
 	"k8s.io/minikube/pkg/minikube/out"
-	"k8s.io/minikube/pkg/minikube/reason"
 	"k8s.io/minikube/pkg/minikube/sysinit"
 )
 
@@ -42,9 +40,6 @@ func enableOrDisableAutoPause(cc *config.ClusterConfig, name string, val string)
 	out.Infof("auto-pause addon is an alpha feature and still in early development. Please file issues to help us make it better.")
 	out.Infof("https://github.com/kubernetes/minikube/labels/co/auto-pause")
 
-	if cc.KubernetesConfig.ContainerRuntime != "docker" {
-		exit.Message(reason.Usage, `auto-pause currently is only supported on docker runtime. Track progress of others here: https://github.com/kubernetes/minikube/issues/10601`)
-	}
 	co := mustload.Running(cc.Name)
 	if enable {
 		if err := sysinit.New(co.CP.Runner).EnableNow("auto-pause"); err != nil {
diff --git a/pkg/minikube/assets/addons.go b/pkg/minikube/assets/addons.go
index 737420aff1..d249636acc 100644
--- a/pkg/minikube/assets/addons.go
+++ b/pkg/minikube/assets/addons.go
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ var Addons = map[string]*Addon{
 			"0640"),
 		MustBinAsset(
 			addons.AutoPauseAssets,
-			"auto-pause/auto-pause.service",
+			"auto-pause/auto-pause.service.tmpl",
 			"/etc/systemd/system/",
 			"auto-pause.service",
 			"0640"),
@@ -788,6 +788,7 @@ func GenerateTemplateData(addon *Addon, cfg config.KubernetesConfig, netInfo Net
 		LoadBalancerStartIP string
 		LoadBalancerEndIP   string
 		CustomIngressCert   string
+		ContainerRuntime    string
 		Images              map[string]string
 		Registries          map[string]string
 		CustomRegistries    map[string]string
@@ -799,6 +800,7 @@ func GenerateTemplateData(addon *Addon, cfg config.KubernetesConfig, netInfo Net
 		LoadBalancerStartIP: cfg.LoadBalancerStartIP,
 		LoadBalancerEndIP:   cfg.LoadBalancerEndIP,
 		CustomIngressCert:   cfg.CustomIngressCert,
+		ContainerRuntime:    cfg.ContainerRuntime,
 		Images:              images,
 		Registries:          addon.Registries,
 		CustomRegistries:    customRegistries,