diff --git a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-jobclient/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/MiniHadoopClusterManager.java b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-jobclient/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/MiniHadoopClusterManager.java
index b89cdc0118..d29dd344e3 100644
--- a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-jobclient/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/MiniHadoopClusterManager.java
+++ b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-jobclient/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/MiniHadoopClusterManager.java
@@ -156,6 +156,7 @@ public void start() throws IOException, FileNotFoundException,
     if (!noDFS) {
       dfs = new MiniDFSCluster.Builder(conf).nameNodePort(nnPort)
           .nameNodeHttpPort(nnHttpPort).numDataNodes(numDataNodes)
+          .format(dfsOpts == StartupOption.FORMAT)
           .startupOption(dfsOpts).build();
       LOG.info("Started MiniDFSCluster -- namenode on port "
           + dfs.getNameNodePort());