diff --git a/hack/jenkins/common.sh b/hack/jenkins/common.sh
index 2fdbfb4b2c..beb58f7d08 100755
--- a/hack/jenkins/common.sh
+++ b/hack/jenkins/common.sh
@@ -36,6 +36,52 @@ export PATH=$PATH:"/usr/local/bin/:/usr/local/go/bin/:$GOPATH/bin"
 
 readonly TIMEOUT=${1:-120m}
 
+public_log_url="https://storage.googleapis.com/minikube-builds/logs/${MINIKUBE_LOCATION}/${COMMIT:0:7}/${JOB_NAME}.html"
+
+# retry_github_status provides reliable github status updates
+function retry_github_status() {
+  local commit=$1
+  local context=$2
+  local state=$3
+  local token=$4
+  local target=$5
+  local desc=$6
+
+   # Retry in case we hit our GitHub API quota or fail other ways.
+  local attempt=0
+  local timeout=2
+  local code=-1
+
+  echo "set GitHub status $context to $desc"
+
+  while [[ "${attempt}" -lt 8 ]]; do
+    local out=$(mktemp)
+    code=$(curl -o "${out}" -s --write-out "%{http_code}" -L -u minikube-bot:${token} \
+      "https://api.github.com/repos/kubernetes/minikube/statuses/${commit}" \
+      -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
+      -X POST \
+      -d "{\"state\": \"${state}\", \"description\": \"Jenkins: ${desc}\", \"target_url\": \"${target}\", \"context\": \"${context}\"}" || echo 999)
+
+    # 2xx HTTP codes
+    if [[ "${code}" =~ ^2 ]]; then
+      break
+    fi
+
+    cat "${out}" && rm -f "${out}"
+    echo "HTTP code ${code}! Retrying in ${timeout} .."
+    sleep "${timeout}"
+    attempt=$(( attempt + 1 ))
+    timeout=$(( timeout * 5 ))
+  done
+}
+
+if [ "$(uname)" = "Darwin" ]; then
+  if ! bash setup_docker_desktop_macos.sh; then
+    retry_github_status "${COMMIT}" "${JOB_NAME}" "failure" "${access_token}" "${public_log_url}" "Jenkins: docker failed to start"
+    exit 1
+  fi
+fi
+
 # We need pstree for the restart cronjobs
 if [ "$(uname)" != "Darwin" ]; then
   sudo apt-get -y install lsof psmisc
@@ -423,45 +469,6 @@ if [[ "${MINIKUBE_LOCATION}" == "master" ]]; then
   exit "$result"
 fi
 
-public_log_url="https://storage.googleapis.com/minikube-builds/logs/${MINIKUBE_LOCATION}/${COMMIT:0:7}/${JOB_NAME}.html"
-
-# retry_github_status provides reliable github status updates
-function retry_github_status() {
-  local commit=$1
-  local context=$2
-  local state=$3
-  local token=$4
-  local target=$5
-  local desc=$6
-
-   # Retry in case we hit our GitHub API quota or fail other ways.
-  local attempt=0
-  local timeout=2
-  local code=-1
-
-  echo "set GitHub status $context to $desc"
-
-  while [[ "${attempt}" -lt 8 ]]; do
-    local out=$(mktemp)
-    code=$(curl -o "${out}" -s --write-out "%{http_code}" -L -u minikube-bot:${token} \
-      "https://api.github.com/repos/kubernetes/minikube/statuses/${commit}" \
-      -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-      -X POST \
-      -d "{\"state\": \"${state}\", \"description\": \"Jenkins: ${desc}\", \"target_url\": \"${target}\", \"context\": \"${context}\"}" || echo 999)
-
-    # 2xx HTTP codes
-    if [[ "${code}" =~ ^2 ]]; then
-      break
-    fi
-
-    cat "${out}" && rm -f "${out}"
-    echo "HTTP code ${code}! Retrying in ${timeout} .."
-    sleep "${timeout}"
-    attempt=$(( attempt + 1 ))
-    timeout=$(( timeout * 5 ))
-  done
-}
-
 retry_github_status "${COMMIT}" "${JOB_NAME}" "${status}" "${access_token}" "${public_log_url}" "${description}"
 
 exit "$result"
diff --git a/hack/jenkins/setup_docker_desktop_macos.sh b/hack/jenkins/setup_docker_desktop_macos.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..ed090ddb5b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hack/jenkins/setup_docker_desktop_macos.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# Copyright 2021 The Kubernetes Authors All rights reserved.
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+set -x
+
+if docker system info > /dev/null 2>&1; then
+  echo "Docker is already running, exiting"
+  exit 0
+fi
+
+# kill docker first
+osascript -e 'quit app "Docker"'
+
+# wait 2 minutes for it to start back up
+timeout=120
+elapsed=0
+echo "Starting Docker Desktop..."
+open --background -a Docker
+echo "Waiting at most two minutes..."
+while ! docker system info > /dev/null 2>&1;
+do
+  sleep 1
+  elapsed=$((elapsed+1))
+  if [ $elapsed -gt $timeout ]; then
+	  echo "Start Docker Desktop failed"
+	  exit 1
+  fi
+done
+
+echo "Docker Desktop started!"