diff --git a/cmd/dockerd/config.go b/cmd/dockerd/config.go
index f142b7538c..b9d586a4ba 100644
--- a/cmd/dockerd/config.go
+++ b/cmd/dockerd/config.go
@@ -65,7 +65,8 @@ func installCommonConfigFlags(conf *config.Config, flags *pflag.FlagSet) {
 
 	flags.StringVar(&conf.MetricsAddress, "metrics-addr", "", "Set default address and port to serve the metrics api on")
 
-	flags.StringVar(&conf.NodeGenericResources, "node-generic-resources", "", "user defined resources (e.g. fpga=2;gpu={UUID1,UUID2,UUID3})")
+	flags.Var(opts.NewListOptsRef(&conf.NodeGenericResources, opts.ValidateSingleGenericResource), "node-generic-resource", "Advertise user-defined resource")
+
 	flags.IntVar(&conf.NetworkControlPlaneMTU, "network-control-plane-mtu", config.DefaultNetworkMtu, "Network Control plane MTU")
 
 	// "--deprecated-key-path" is to allow configuration of the key used
diff --git a/daemon/config/config.go b/daemon/config/config.go
index a340997073..f7a0df58ed 100644
--- a/daemon/config/config.go
+++ b/daemon/config/config.go
@@ -171,7 +171,8 @@ type CommonConfig struct {
 	Experimental bool `json:"experimental"` // Experimental indicates whether experimental features should be exposed or not
 
 	// Exposed node Generic Resources
-	NodeGenericResources string `json:"node-generic-resources,omitempty"`
+	// e.g: ["orange=red", "orange=green", "orange=blue", "apple=3"]
+	NodeGenericResources []string `json:"node-generic-resources,omitempty"`
 	// NetworkControlPlaneMTU allows to specify the control plane MTU, this will allow to optimize the network use in some components
 	NetworkControlPlaneMTU int `json:"network-control-plane-mtu,omitempty"`
 
diff --git a/daemon/config/opts.go b/daemon/config/opts.go
index 00f32e43bb..cdf264911f 100644
--- a/daemon/config/opts.go
+++ b/daemon/config/opts.go
@@ -7,8 +7,8 @@ import (
 )
 
 // ParseGenericResources parses and validates the specified string as a list of GenericResource
-func ParseGenericResources(value string) ([]swarm.GenericResource, error) {
-	if value == "" {
+func ParseGenericResources(value []string) ([]swarm.GenericResource, error) {
+	if len(value) == 0 {
 		return nil, nil
 	}
 
diff --git a/opts/opts.go b/opts/opts.go
index a86d74d60a..a2cc5e33b1 100644
--- a/opts/opts.go
+++ b/opts/opts.go
@@ -263,6 +263,16 @@ func ValidateLabel(val string) (string, error) {
 	return val, nil
 }
 
+// ValidateSingleGenericResource validates that a single entry in the
+// generic resource list is valid.
+// i.e 'GPU=UID1' is valid however 'GPU:UID1' or 'UID1' isn't
+func ValidateSingleGenericResource(val string) (string, error) {
+	if strings.Count(val, "=") < 1 {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("invalid node-generic-resource format `%s` expected `name=value`", val)
+	}
+	return val, nil
+}
+
 // ParseLink parses and validates the specified string as a link format (name:alias)
 func ParseLink(val string) (string, string, error) {
 	if val == "" {