diff --git a/components/engine/daemon/daemon.go b/components/engine/daemon/daemon.go
index f907879ce8..e2c373988c 100644
--- a/components/engine/daemon/daemon.go
+++ b/components/engine/daemon/daemon.go
@@ -609,17 +609,6 @@ func NewDaemon(config *Config, registryService *registry.Service) (daemon *Daemo
 	// set up SIGUSR1 handler to dump Go routine stacks
 	setupSigusr1Trap()
 
-	// set up the tmpDir to use a canonical path
-	tmp, err := tempDir(config.Root)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("Unable to get the TempDir under %s: %s", config.Root, err)
-	}
-	realTmp, err := fileutils.ReadSymlinkedDirectory(tmp)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("Unable to get the full path to the TempDir (%s): %s", tmp, err)
-	}
-	os.Setenv("TMPDIR", realTmp)
-
 	// get the canonical path to the Docker root directory
 	var realRoot string
 	if _, err := os.Stat(config.Root); err != nil && os.IsNotExist(err) {
@@ -636,6 +625,17 @@ func NewDaemon(config *Config, registryService *registry.Service) (daemon *Daemo
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
+	// set up the tmpDir to use a canonical path
+	tmp, err := tempDir(config.Root)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("Unable to get the TempDir under %s: %s", config.Root, err)
+	}
+	realTmp, err := fileutils.ReadSymlinkedDirectory(tmp)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("Unable to get the full path to the TempDir (%s): %s", tmp, err)
+	}
+	os.Setenv("TMPDIR", realTmp)
+
 	// Set the default driver
 	graphdriver.DefaultDriver = config.GraphDriver