diff --git a/daemon/daemon_unix.go b/daemon/daemon_unix.go
index de302e5ca0..bc890002a4 100644
--- a/daemon/daemon_unix.go
+++ b/daemon/daemon_unix.go
@@ -1290,6 +1290,10 @@ func setupDaemonRootPropagation(cfg *config.Config) error {
 		return nil
 	}
 
+	if err := os.MkdirAll(filepath.Dir(cleanupFile), 0700); err != nil {
+		return errors.Wrap(err, "error creating dir to store mount cleanup file")
+	}
+
 	if err := ioutil.WriteFile(cleanupFile, nil, 0600); err != nil {
 		return errors.Wrap(err, "error writing file to signal mount cleanup on shutdown")
 	}