diff --git a/contrib/init/systemd/socket-activation/docker.service b/contrib/init/systemd/socket-activation/docker.service
index 0b39c28328..405bdf5afc 100644
--- a/contrib/init/systemd/socket-activation/docker.service
+++ b/contrib/init/systemd/socket-activation/docker.service
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ After=network.target
 
 [Service]
 ExecStartPre=/bin/mount --make-rprivate /
-ExecStart=/usr/bin/docker -d -H fd://*
+ExecStart=/usr/bin/docker -d -H fd://
 
 [Install]
 WantedBy=multi-user.target
diff --git a/docs/sources/reference/commandline/cli.rst b/docs/sources/reference/commandline/cli.rst
index e9809156d5..739e93975d 100644
--- a/docs/sources/reference/commandline/cli.rst
+++ b/docs/sources/reference/commandline/cli.rst
@@ -63,8 +63,8 @@ the ``-H`` flag for the client.
         # both are equal
 
 
-To run the daemon with `systemd socket activation <http://0pointer.de/blog/projects/socket-activation.html>`, use ``docker -d -H fd://*``.
-Using ``fd://*`` will work perfectly for most setups but you can also specify individual sockets too ``docker -d -H fd://3``.
+To run the daemon with `systemd socket activation <http://0pointer.de/blog/projects/socket-activation.html>`, use ``docker -d -H fd://``.
+Using ``fd://`` will work perfectly for most setups but you can also specify individual sockets too ``docker -d -H fd://3``.
 If the specified socket activated files aren't found then docker will exit.
 You can find examples of using systemd socket activation with docker and systemd in the `docker source tree <https://github.com/dotcloud/docker/blob/master/contrib/init/systemd/socket-activation/>`.
 
diff --git a/pkg/systemd/listendfd.go b/pkg/systemd/listendfd.go
index a8fdb09ca4..08070b6ece 100644
--- a/pkg/systemd/listendfd.go
+++ b/pkg/systemd/listendfd.go
@@ -17,6 +17,11 @@ func ListenFD(addr string) ([]net.Listener, error) {
 		return nil, errors.New("No sockets found")
 	}
 
+	// default to all fds just like unix:// and tcp://
+	if addr == "" {
+		addr = "*"
+	}
+
 	fdNum, _ := strconv.Atoi(addr)
 	fdOffset := fdNum - 3
 	if (addr != "*") && (len(files) < int(fdOffset)+1) {