diff --git a/daemon/graphdriver/overlay/overlay.go b/daemon/graphdriver/overlay/overlay.go
index eda0d7cd53..1d850ed186 100644
--- a/daemon/graphdriver/overlay/overlay.go
+++ b/daemon/graphdriver/overlay/overlay.go
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@
 package overlay // import "github.com/docker/docker/daemon/graphdriver/overlay"
 
 import (
-	"bufio"
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
 	"io/ioutil"
@@ -123,10 +122,6 @@ func Init(home string, options []string, uidMaps, gidMaps []idtools.IDMap) (grap
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
-	if err := supportsOverlay(); err != nil {
-		return nil, graphdriver.ErrNotSupported
-	}
-
 	// Perform feature detection on /var/lib/docker/overlay if it's an existing directory.
 	// This covers situations where /var/lib/docker/overlay is a mount, and on a different
 	// filesystem than /var/lib/docker.
@@ -136,6 +131,11 @@ func Init(home string, options []string, uidMaps, gidMaps []idtools.IDMap) (grap
 		testdir = filepath.Dir(testdir)
 	}
 
+	if err := overlayutils.SupportsOverlay(testdir, false); err != nil {
+		logrus.WithField("storage-driver", "overlay").Error(err)
+		return nil, graphdriver.ErrNotSupported
+	}
+
 	fsMagic, err := graphdriver.GetFSMagic(testdir)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
@@ -199,33 +199,6 @@ func parseOptions(options []string) (*overlayOptions, error) {
 	return o, nil
 }
 
-func supportsOverlay() error {
-	// Access overlay filesystem so that Linux loads it (if possible).
-	mountTarget, err := ioutil.TempDir("", "supportsOverlay")
-	if err != nil {
-		logrus.WithError(err).WithField("storage-driver", "overlay2").Error("could not create temporary directory, so assuming that 'overlay' is not supported")
-		return graphdriver.ErrNotSupported
-	}
-	/* The mounting will fail--after the module has been loaded.*/
-	defer os.RemoveAll(mountTarget)
-	unix.Mount("overlay", mountTarget, "overlay", 0, "")
-
-	f, err := os.Open("/proc/filesystems")
-	if err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-	defer f.Close()
-
-	s := bufio.NewScanner(f)
-	for s.Scan() {
-		if s.Text() == "nodev\toverlay" {
-			return nil
-		}
-	}
-	logrus.WithField("storage-driver", "overlay").Error("'overlay' not found as a supported filesystem on this host. Please ensure kernel is new enough and has overlay support loaded.")
-	return graphdriver.ErrNotSupported
-}
-
 func (d *Driver) String() string {
 	return "overlay"
 }
diff --git a/daemon/graphdriver/overlay2/overlay.go b/daemon/graphdriver/overlay2/overlay.go
index 751e1cf186..d257e942d1 100644
--- a/daemon/graphdriver/overlay2/overlay.go
+++ b/daemon/graphdriver/overlay2/overlay.go
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@
 package overlay2 // import "github.com/docker/docker/daemon/graphdriver/overlay2"
 
 import (
-	"bufio"
 	"context"
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
@@ -133,10 +132,6 @@ func Init(home string, options []string, uidMaps, gidMaps []idtools.IDMap) (grap
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
-	if err := supportsOverlay(); err != nil {
-		return nil, graphdriver.ErrNotSupported
-	}
-
 	// require kernel 4.0.0 to ensure multiple lower dirs are supported
 	v, err := kernel.GetKernelVersion()
 	if err != nil {
@@ -152,6 +147,11 @@ func Init(home string, options []string, uidMaps, gidMaps []idtools.IDMap) (grap
 		testdir = filepath.Dir(testdir)
 	}
 
+	if err := overlayutils.SupportsOverlay(testdir, true); err != nil {
+		logger.Error(err)
+		return nil, graphdriver.ErrNotSupported
+	}
+
 	fsMagic, err := graphdriver.GetFSMagic(testdir)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
@@ -176,16 +176,6 @@ func Init(home string, options []string, uidMaps, gidMaps []idtools.IDMap) (grap
 		}
 	}
 
-	if kernel.CompareKernelVersion(*v, kernel.VersionInfo{Kernel: 4, Major: 0, Minor: 0}) < 0 {
-		if opts.overrideKernelCheck {
-			logger.Warn("Using pre-4.0.0 kernel for overlay2, mount failures may require kernel update")
-		} else {
-			if err := overlayutils.SupportsMultipleLowerDir(testdir); err != nil {
-				logger.Debugf("Multiple lower dirs not supported: %v", err)
-				return nil, graphdriver.ErrNotSupported
-			}
-		}
-	}
 	supportsDType, err := fsutils.SupportsDType(testdir)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
@@ -274,33 +264,6 @@ func parseOptions(options []string) (*overlayOptions, error) {
 	return o, nil
 }
 
-func supportsOverlay() error {
-	// Access overlay filesystem so that Linux loads it (if possible).
-	mountTarget, err := ioutil.TempDir("", "supportsOverlay2")
-	if err != nil {
-		logrus.WithError(err).WithField("storage-driver", "overlay2").Error("could not create temporary directory, so assuming that 'overlay' is not supported")
-		return graphdriver.ErrNotSupported
-	}
-	/* The mounting will fail--after the module has been loaded.*/
-	defer os.RemoveAll(mountTarget)
-	unix.Mount("overlay", mountTarget, "overlay", 0, "")
-
-	f, err := os.Open("/proc/filesystems")
-	if err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-	defer f.Close()
-
-	s := bufio.NewScanner(f)
-	for s.Scan() {
-		if s.Text() == "nodev\toverlay" {
-			return nil
-		}
-	}
-	logger.Error("'overlay' not found as a supported filesystem on this host. Please ensure kernel is new enough and has overlay support loaded.")
-	return graphdriver.ErrNotSupported
-}
-
 func useNaiveDiff(home string) bool {
 	useNaiveDiffLock.Do(func() {
 		if err := doesSupportNativeDiff(home); err != nil {
diff --git a/daemon/graphdriver/overlayutils/overlayutils.go b/daemon/graphdriver/overlayutils/overlayutils.go
index 3cd6b2a2a4..e0553a09f7 100644
--- a/daemon/graphdriver/overlayutils/overlayutils.go
+++ b/daemon/graphdriver/overlayutils/overlayutils.go
@@ -31,13 +31,13 @@ func ErrDTypeNotSupported(driver, backingFs string) error {
 	return graphdriver.NotSupportedError(msg)
 }
 
-// SupportsMultipleLowerDir checks if the system supports multiple lowerdirs,
-// which is required for the overlay2 driver. On 4.x kernels, multiple lowerdirs
-// are always available (so this check isn't needed), and backported to RHEL and
-// CentOS 3.x kernels (3.10.0-693.el7.x86_64 and up). This function is to detect
-// support on those kernels, without doing a kernel version compare.
-func SupportsMultipleLowerDir(d string) error {
-	td, err := ioutil.TempDir(d, "multiple-lowerdir-check")
+// SupportsOverlay checks if the system supports overlay filesystem
+// by performing an actual overlay mount.
+//
+// checkMultipleLowers parameter enables check for multiple lowerdirs,
+// which is required for the overlay2 driver.
+func SupportsOverlay(d string, checkMultipleLowers bool) error {
+	td, err := ioutil.TempDir(d, "check-overlayfs-support")
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
@@ -54,7 +54,11 @@ func SupportsMultipleLowerDir(d string) error {
 	}
 
 	mnt := filepath.Join(td, "merged")
-	opts := fmt.Sprintf("lowerdir=%s:%s,upperdir=%s,workdir=%s", path.Join(td, "lower2"), path.Join(td, "lower1"), path.Join(td, "upper"), path.Join(td, "work"))
+	lowerDir := path.Join(td, "lower2")
+	if checkMultipleLowers {
+		lowerDir += ":" + path.Join(td, "lower1")
+	}
+	opts := fmt.Sprintf("lowerdir=%s,upperdir=%s,workdir=%s", lowerDir, path.Join(td, "upper"), path.Join(td, "work"))
 	if err := unix.Mount("overlay", mnt, "overlay", 0, opts); err != nil {
 		return errors.Wrap(err, "failed to mount overlay")
 	}