diff --git a/pkg/minikube/node/config.go b/pkg/minikube/node/config.go
index 2f3dd26fb1ea..14ad22ae8f5d 100644
--- a/pkg/minikube/node/config.go
+++ b/pkg/minikube/node/config.go
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ import (
 	"k8s.io/minikube/pkg/minikube/exit"
 	"k8s.io/minikube/pkg/minikube/kubeconfig"
 	"k8s.io/minikube/pkg/minikube/localpath"
+	"k8s.io/minikube/pkg/minikube/machine"
 	"k8s.io/minikube/pkg/minikube/out"
 	"k8s.io/minikube/pkg/util/lock"
 )
@@ -67,7 +68,10 @@ func configureRuntimes(runner cruntime.CommandRunner, drvName string, k8s config
 	}
 	if !driver.IsKIC(drvName) {
 		if err := cr.Preload(k8s.KubernetesVersion); err != nil {
-			glog.Infof("Failed to preload container runtime %s: %v", cr.Name(), err)
+			glog.Errorf("Failed to preload container runtime %s: %v, falling back to caching images", cr.Name(), err)
+			if err := machine.CacheImagesForBootstrapper(k8s.ImageRepository, k8s.KubernetesVersion, viper.GetString(cmdcfg.Bootstrapper)); err != nil {
+				exit.WithError("Failed to cache images", err)
+			}
 		}
 	}
 
diff --git a/pkg/minikube/node/start.go b/pkg/minikube/node/start.go
index d1ac337c31c6..8dfbde664360 100644
--- a/pkg/minikube/node/start.go
+++ b/pkg/minikube/node/start.go
@@ -59,10 +59,12 @@ func Start(mc config.ClusterConfig, n config.Node, primary bool, existingAddons
 	mRunner, preExists, machineAPI, host := startMachine(&mc, &n)
 	defer machineAPI.Close()
 
+	// wait for preloaded tarball to finish downloading before configuring runtimes
+	waitCacheRequiredImages(&cacheGroup)
+
 	// configure the runtime (docker, containerd, crio)
 	cr := configureRuntimes(mRunner, driverName, mc.KubernetesConfig)
 	showVersionInfo(k8sVersion, cr)
-	waitCacheRequiredImages(&cacheGroup)
 
 	//TODO(sharifelgamal): Part out the cluster-wide operations, perhaps using the "primary" param