diff --git a/daemon/graphdriver/overlay2/overlay.go b/daemon/graphdriver/overlay2/overlay.go
index f9e34483c0..6da1f25a34 100644
--- a/daemon/graphdriver/overlay2/overlay.go
+++ b/daemon/graphdriver/overlay2/overlay.go
@@ -112,6 +112,8 @@ var (
 
 	useNaiveDiffLock sync.Once
 	useNaiveDiffOnly bool
+
+	indexOff string
 )
 
 func init() {
@@ -227,7 +229,18 @@ func Init(home string, options []string, uidMaps, gidMaps []idtools.IDMap) (grap
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("Storage Option overlay2.size only supported for backingFS XFS. Found %v", backingFs)
 	}
 
-	logger.Debugf("backingFs=%s,  projectQuotaSupported=%v", backingFs, projectQuotaSupported)
+	// figure out whether "index=off" option is recognized by the kernel
+	_, err = os.Stat("/sys/module/overlay/parameters/index")
+	switch {
+	case err == nil:
+		indexOff = "index=off,"
+	case os.IsNotExist(err):
+		// old kernel, no index -- do nothing
+	default:
+		logger.Warnf("Unable to detect whether overlay kernel module supports index parameter: %s", err)
+	}
+
+	logger.Debugf("backingFs=%s, projectQuotaSupported=%v, indexOff=%q", backingFs, projectQuotaSupported, indexOff)
 
 	return d, nil
 }
@@ -576,7 +589,7 @@ func (d *Driver) Get(id, mountLabel string) (_ containerfs.ContainerFS, retErr e
 	for i, s := range splitLowers {
 		absLowers[i] = path.Join(d.home, s)
 	}
-	opts := fmt.Sprintf("lowerdir=%s,upperdir=%s,workdir=%s", strings.Join(absLowers, ":"), path.Join(dir, "diff"), path.Join(dir, "work"))
+	opts := indexOff + "lowerdir=" + strings.Join(absLowers, ":") + ",upperdir=" + path.Join(dir, "diff") + ",workdir=" + path.Join(dir, "work")
 	mountData := label.FormatMountLabel(opts, mountLabel)
 	mount := unix.Mount
 	mountTarget := mergedDir
@@ -605,7 +618,7 @@ func (d *Driver) Get(id, mountLabel string) (_ containerfs.ContainerFS, retErr e
 	// fit within a page and relative links make the mount data much
 	// smaller at the expense of requiring a fork exec to chroot.
 	if len(mountData) > pageSize {
-		opts = fmt.Sprintf("lowerdir=%s,upperdir=%s,workdir=%s", string(lowers), path.Join(id, "diff"), path.Join(id, "work"))
+		opts = indexOff + "lowerdir=" + string(lowers) + ",upperdir=" + path.Join(id, "diff") + ",workdir=" + path.Join(id, "work")
 		mountData = label.FormatMountLabel(opts, mountLabel)
 		if len(mountData) > pageSize {
 			return nil, fmt.Errorf("cannot mount layer, mount label too large %d", len(mountData))