diff --git a/nodeup/pkg/model/kubelet.go b/nodeup/pkg/model/kubelet.go
index 1ecc3f35e7..13aa362c87 100644
--- a/nodeup/pkg/model/kubelet.go
+++ b/nodeup/pkg/model/kubelet.go
@@ -146,6 +146,8 @@ func (b *KubeletBuilder) buildSystemdEnvironmentFile(kubeletConfig *kops.Kubelet
 	}
 
 	sysconfig := "DAEMON_ARGS=\"" + flags + "\"\n"
+	// Makes kubelet read /root/.docker/config.json properly
+	sysconfig = sysconfig + "HOME=\"/root" + "\"\n"
 
 	t := &nodetasks.File{
 		Path:     "/etc/sysconfig/kubelet",
diff --git a/nodeup/pkg/model/secrets.go b/nodeup/pkg/model/secrets.go
index 98907229e1..cc36d122b4 100644
--- a/nodeup/pkg/model/secrets.go
+++ b/nodeup/pkg/model/secrets.go
@@ -70,21 +70,12 @@ func (b *SecretBuilder) Build(c *fi.ModelBuilderContext) error {
 		contents := string(dockercfg.Data)
 
 		t := &nodetasks.File{
-			Path: filepath.Join(
-				"var", "lib", "kubelet", ".docker", "config.json"),
-			Contents: fi.NewStringResource(contents),
-			Type:     nodetasks.FileType_File,
-			Mode:     s("0600"),
-		}
-
-		t2 := &nodetasks.File{
 			Path:     filepath.Join("root", ".docker", "config.json"),
 			Contents: fi.NewStringResource(contents),
 			Type:     nodetasks.FileType_File,
 			Mode:     s("0600"),
 		}
 		c.AddTask(t)
-		c.AddTask(t2)
 	}
 
 	// if we are not a master we can stop here
diff --git a/upup/pkg/fi/cloudup/apply_cluster.go b/upup/pkg/fi/cloudup/apply_cluster.go
index 539b9d83f9..802eee2126 100644
--- a/upup/pkg/fi/cloudup/apply_cluster.go
+++ b/upup/pkg/fi/cloudup/apply_cluster.go
@@ -302,13 +302,13 @@ func (c *ApplyClusterCmd) Run() error {
 
 	var nodeDockerConfig string
 	{
-	   secret, err := secretStore.Secret("nodedockercfg")
+		secret, err := secretStore.Secret("nodedockercfg")
 		if err != nil {
 			return fmt.Errorf("error retrieving docker config %q: %v", secret, err)
 		}
 		if secret != nil {
-		   nodeDockerConfig, err = secret.AsString()
-		   if err != nil {
+			nodeDockerConfig, err = secret.AsString()
+			if err != nil {
 				return fmt.Errorf("error node docker config not a string? %q: %v", nodeDockerConfig, err)
 			}
 		}