diff --git a/components/engine/api/client/create.go b/components/engine/api/client/create.go
index 3cf8a7a7b1..17f0b67c06 100644
--- a/components/engine/api/client/create.go
+++ b/components/engine/api/client/create.go
@@ -40,8 +40,8 @@ func (cli *DockerCli) pullImageCustomOut(image string, out io.Writer) error {
 		return err
 	}
 
-	// Resolve the Auth config relevant for this server
-	encodedAuth, err := cli.encodeRegistryAuth(repoInfo.Index)
+	authConfig := registry.ResolveAuthConfig(cli.configFile.AuthConfigs, repoInfo.Index)
+	encodedAuth, err := encodeAuthToBase64(authConfig)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
diff --git a/components/engine/api/client/utils.go b/components/engine/api/client/utils.go
index 6ecbd161d0..7d1cc73500 100644
--- a/components/engine/api/client/utils.go
+++ b/components/engine/api/client/utils.go
@@ -30,11 +30,6 @@ func encodeAuthToBase64(authConfig types.AuthConfig) (string, error) {
 	return base64.URLEncoding.EncodeToString(buf), nil
 }
 
-func (cli *DockerCli) encodeRegistryAuth(index *registrytypes.IndexInfo) (string, error) {
-	authConfig := registry.ResolveAuthConfig(cli.configFile.AuthConfigs, index)
-	return encodeAuthToBase64(authConfig)
-}
-
 func (cli *DockerCli) registryAuthenticationPrivilegedFunc(index *registrytypes.IndexInfo, cmdName string) client.RequestPrivilegeFunc {
 	return func() (string, error) {
 		fmt.Fprintf(cli.out, "\nPlease login prior to %s:\n", cmdName)