diff --git a/daemon/daemon.go b/daemon/daemon.go
index ccf254b2cf..e5fd6f9395 100644
--- a/daemon/daemon.go
+++ b/daemon/daemon.go
@@ -1226,6 +1226,10 @@ func checkKernel() error {
 func (daemon *Daemon) verifyHostConfig(hostConfig *runconfig.HostConfig) ([]string, error) {
 	var warnings []string
 
+	if hostConfig == nil {
+		return warnings, nil
+	}
+
 	if hostConfig.LxcConf.Len() > 0 && !strings.Contains(daemon.ExecutionDriver().Name(), "lxc") {
 		return warnings, fmt.Errorf("Cannot use --lxc-conf with execdriver: %s", daemon.ExecutionDriver().Name())
 	}
diff --git a/daemon/start.go b/daemon/start.go
index dbb3dd1810..d3af073a88 100644
--- a/daemon/start.go
+++ b/daemon/start.go
@@ -20,6 +20,10 @@ func (daemon *Daemon) ContainerStart(name string, hostConfig *runconfig.HostConf
 		return fmt.Errorf("Container already started")
 	}
 
+	if _, err = daemon.verifyHostConfig(hostConfig); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
 	// This is kept for backward compatibility - hostconfig should be passed when
 	// creating a container, not during start.
 	if hostConfig != nil {
diff --git a/integration-cli/docker_api_containers_test.go b/integration-cli/docker_api_containers_test.go
index b76eb6ba2a..1dea478452 100644
--- a/integration-cli/docker_api_containers_test.go
+++ b/integration-cli/docker_api_containers_test.go
@@ -817,3 +817,54 @@ func TestContainerApiPostCreateNull(t *testing.T) {
 
 	logDone("containers REST API - Create Null")
 }
+
+func TestCreateWithTooLowMemoryLimit(t *testing.T) {
+	defer deleteAllContainers()
+	config := `{
+		"Image":     "busybox",
+		"Cmd":       "ls",
+		"OpenStdin": true,
+		"CpuShares": 100,
+		"Memory":    524287
+	}`
+
+	_, body, err := sockRequestRaw("POST", "/containers/create", strings.NewReader(config), "application/json")
+	b, err2 := readBody(body)
+	if err2 != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err2)
+	}
+
+	if err == nil || !strings.Contains(string(b), "Minimum memory limit allowed is 4MB") {
+		t.Errorf("Memory limit is smaller than the allowed limit. Container creation should've failed!")
+	}
+
+	logDone("container REST API - create can't set too low memory limit")
+}
+
+func TestStartWithTooLowMemoryLimit(t *testing.T) {
+	defer deleteAllContainers()
+
+	out, _, err := runCommandWithOutput(exec.Command(dockerBinary, "create", "busybox"))
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err, out)
+	}
+
+	containerID := strings.TrimSpace(out)
+
+	config := `{
+                "CpuShares": 100,
+                "Memory":    524287
+        }`
+
+	_, body, err := sockRequestRaw("POST", "/containers/"+containerID+"/start", strings.NewReader(config), "application/json")
+	b, err2 := readBody(body)
+	if err2 != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err2)
+	}
+
+	if err == nil || !strings.Contains(string(b), "Minimum memory limit allowed is 4MB") {
+		t.Errorf("Memory limit is smaller than the allowed limit. Container creation should've failed!")
+	}
+
+	logDone("container REST API - start can't set too low memory limit")
+}
diff --git a/integration-cli/docker_cli_run_test.go b/integration-cli/docker_cli_run_test.go
index de53fd4941..f2e4eb9b2b 100644
--- a/integration-cli/docker_cli_run_test.go
+++ b/integration-cli/docker_cli_run_test.go
@@ -3496,15 +3496,3 @@ func TestRunPidHostWithChildIsKillable(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 	logDone("run - can kill container with pid-host and some childs of pid 1")
 }
-
-func TestRunWithTooSmallMemoryLimit(t *testing.T) {
-	defer deleteAllContainers()
-	// this memory limit is 1 byte less than the min, which is 4MB
-	// https://github.com/docker/docker/blob/v1.5.0/daemon/create.go#L22
-	out, _, err := runCommandWithOutput(exec.Command(dockerBinary, "run", "-m", "4194303", "busybox"))
-	if err == nil || !strings.Contains(out, "Minimum memory limit allowed is 4MB") {
-		t.Fatalf("expected run to fail when using too low a memory limit: %q", out)
-	}
-
-	logDone("run - can't set too low memory limit")
-}