diff --git a/components/engine/daemon/container.go b/components/engine/daemon/container.go
index d0fb77faeb..de255ca886 100644
--- a/components/engine/daemon/container.go
+++ b/components/engine/daemon/container.go
@@ -920,6 +920,7 @@ func (container *Container) setupContainerDns() error {
 	}
 
 	if config.NetworkMode != "host" {
+		// check configurations for any container/daemon dns settings
 		if len(config.Dns) > 0 || len(daemon.config.Dns) > 0 || len(config.DnsSearch) > 0 || len(daemon.config.DnsSearch) > 0 {
 			var (
 				dns       = resolvconf.GetNameservers(resolvConf)
@@ -936,15 +937,15 @@ func (container *Container) setupContainerDns() error {
 				dnsSearch = daemon.config.DnsSearch
 			}
 			return resolvconf.Build(container.ResolvConfPath, dns, dnsSearch)
-		} else {
-			resolvConf = utils.RemoveLocalDns(resolvConf)
-			if !bytes.Contains(resolvConf, []byte("nameserver")) {
-				for _, dns := range DefaultDns {
-					log.Infof("No non localhost DNS resolver found in resolv.conf and containers can't use it. Using default external servers : %v", DefaultDns)
-					resolvConf = append(append(resolvConf, []byte("\nnameserver ")...), dns...)
-				}
-				resolvConf = append(resolvConf, []byte("\n")...)
-			}
+		}
+
+		// replace any localhost/127.* nameservers
+		resolvConf = utils.RemoveLocalDns(resolvConf)
+		// if the resulting resolvConf is empty, use DefaultDns
+		if !bytes.Contains(resolvConf, []byte("nameserver")) {
+			log.Infof("No non localhost DNS resolver found in resolv.conf and containers can't use it. Using default external servers : %v", DefaultDns)
+			// prefix the default dns options with nameserver
+			resolvConf = append(resolvConf, []byte("\nnameserver "+strings.Join(DefaultDns, "\nnameserver "))...)
 		}
 	}
 	return ioutil.WriteFile(container.ResolvConfPath, resolvConf, 0644)
diff --git a/components/engine/integration-cli/docker_cli_run_test.go b/components/engine/integration-cli/docker_cli_run_test.go
index c9475d46f1..dd2ec5cec4 100644
--- a/components/engine/integration-cli/docker_cli_run_test.go
+++ b/components/engine/integration-cli/docker_cli_run_test.go
@@ -1266,20 +1266,39 @@ func TestRunWithVolumesIsRecursive(t *testing.T) {
 }
 
 func TestRunDnsDefaultOptions(t *testing.T) {
-	cmd := exec.Command(dockerBinary, "run", "busybox", "cat", "/etc/resolv.conf")
-
-	actual, _, err := runCommandWithOutput(cmd)
-	if err != nil {
-		t.Fatal(err, actual)
-	}
-
-	resolvConf, err := ioutil.ReadFile("/etc/resolv.conf")
+	// ci server has default resolv.conf
+	// so rewrite it for the test
+	origResolvConf, err := ioutil.ReadFile("/etc/resolv.conf")
 	if os.IsNotExist(err) {
 		t.Fatalf("/etc/resolv.conf does not exist")
 	}
 
-	if actual != string(resolvConf) {
-		t.Fatalf("expected resolv.conf is not the same of actual")
+	// test with file
+	tmpResolvConf := []byte("nameserver 127.0.0.1")
+	if err := ioutil.WriteFile("/etc/resolv.conf", tmpResolvConf, 0644); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	// put the old resolvconf back
+	defer func() {
+		if err := ioutil.WriteFile("/etc/resolv.conf", origResolvConf, 0644); err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+	}()
+
+	cmd := exec.Command(dockerBinary, "run", "busybox", "cat", "/etc/resolv.conf")
+
+	actual, _, err := runCommandWithOutput(cmd)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Error(err, actual)
+		return
+	}
+
+	// check that the actual defaults are there
+	// if we ever change the defaults from google dns, this will break
+	expected := "\nnameserver 8.8.8.8\nnameserver 8.8.4.4"
+	if actual != expected {
+		t.Errorf("expected resolv.conf be: %q, but was: %q", expected, actual)
+		return
 	}
 
 	deleteAllContainers()