diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/ha/HAAdmin.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/ha/HAAdmin.java
index dfa03e896e..bd6366c76c 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/ha/HAAdmin.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/ha/HAAdmin.java
@@ -143,8 +143,10 @@ private int transitionToActive(final CommandLine cmd)
     }
     /*  returns true if other target node is active or some exception occurred 
         and forceActive was not set  */
-    if(isOtherTargetNodeActive(argv[0], cmd.hasOption(FORCEACTIVE))) {
-      return -1;
+    if(!cmd.hasOption(FORCEACTIVE)) {
+      if(isOtherTargetNodeActive(argv[0], cmd.hasOption(FORCEACTIVE))) {
+        return -1;
+      }
     }
     HAServiceTarget target = resolveTarget(argv[0]);
     if (!checkManualStateManagementOK(target)) {
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
index 209c7c1ed3..f596265f4e 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
@@ -458,6 +458,9 @@ Release 2.6.0 - UNRELEASED
     HDFS-7061. Add test to verify encryption zone creation after NameNode
     restart without saving namespace. (Stephen Chu via wang)
 
+    HDFS-7059. HAadmin transtionToActive with forceActive option can show
+    confusing message.
+
   OPTIMIZATIONS
 
     HDFS-6690. Deduplicate xattr names in memory. (wang)
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/tools/TestDFSHAAdminMiniCluster.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/tools/TestDFSHAAdminMiniCluster.java
index 288bcd0b00..ee1c1845b3 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/tools/TestDFSHAAdminMiniCluster.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/tools/TestDFSHAAdminMiniCluster.java
@@ -232,26 +232,6 @@ public void testTransitionToActiveWhenOtherNamenodeisActive()
     assertFalse("Both namenodes cannot be active", nn1.isActiveState() 
         && nn2.isActiveState());
    
-    /*  This test case doesn't allow nn2 to transition to Active even with
-        forceActive switch since nn1 is already active  */
-    if(nn1.getState() != null && !nn1.getState().
-        equals(HAServiceState.STANDBY.name()) ) {
-      cluster.transitionToStandby(0);
-    }
-    if(nn2.getState() != null && !nn2.getState().
-        equals(HAServiceState.STANDBY.name()) ) {
-      cluster.transitionToStandby(1);
-    }
-    //Making sure both the namenode are in standby state
-    assertTrue(nn1.isStandbyState());
-    assertTrue(nn2.isStandbyState());
-    
-    runTool("-transitionToActive", "nn1");
-    runTool("-transitionToActive", "nn2","--forceactive");
-    
-    assertFalse("Both namenodes cannot be active even though with forceActive",
-        nn1.isActiveState() && nn2.isActiveState());
-
     /*  In this test case, we have deliberately shut down nn1 and this will
         cause HAAAdmin#isOtherTargetNodeActive to throw an Exception 
         and transitionToActive for nn2 with  forceActive switch will succeed