diff --git a/cmd/minikube/cmd/start_flags.go b/cmd/minikube/cmd/start_flags.go
index 1988677eeb42..8cd3fdc6acc0 100644
--- a/cmd/minikube/cmd/start_flags.go
+++ b/cmd/minikube/cmd/start_flags.go
@@ -152,7 +152,7 @@ func initMinikubeFlags() {
 	startCmd.Flags().IntP(nodes, "n", 1, "The number of nodes to spin up. Defaults to 1.")
 	startCmd.Flags().Bool(preload, true, "If set, download tarball of preloaded images if available to improve start time. Defaults to true.")
 	startCmd.Flags().Bool(deleteOnFailure, false, "If set, delete the current cluster if start fails and try again. Defaults to false.")
-	startCmd.Flags().Bool(forceSystemd, false, "If set, force the container runtime to use sytemd as cgroup manager. Currently available for docker and crio. Defaults to false.")
+	startCmd.Flags().Bool(forceSystemd, false, "If set, force the container runtime to use sytemd as cgroup manager. Defaults to false.")
 	startCmd.Flags().StringP(network, "", "", "network to run minikube with. Only available with the docker/podman drivers. If left empty, minikube will create a new network.")
 	startCmd.Flags().StringVarP(&outputFormat, "output", "o", "text", "Format to print stdout in. Options include: [text,json]")
 	startCmd.Flags().StringP(trace, "", "", "Send trace events. Options include: [gcp]")
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index e8cf12782269..6540c3a4912c 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -988,6 +988,8 @@ github.com/ugorji/go v1.1.4/go.mod h1:uQMGLiO92mf5W77hV/PUCpI3pbzQx3CRekS0kk+RGr
 github.com/ugorji/go/codec v0.0.0-20181204163529-d75b2dcb6bc8/go.mod h1:VFNgLljTbGfSG7qAOspJ7OScBnGdDN/yBr0sguwnwf0=
 github.com/ulikunitz/xz v0.5.5 h1:pFrO0lVpTBXLpYw+pnLj6TbvHuyjXMfjGeCwSqCVwok=
 github.com/ulikunitz/xz v0.5.5/go.mod h1:2bypXElzHzzJZwzH67Y6wb67pO62Rzfn7BSiF4ABRW8=
+github.com/ulikunitz/xz v0.5.8 h1:ERv8V6GKqVi23rgu5cj9pVfVzJbOqAY2Ntl88O6c2nQ=
+github.com/ulikunitz/xz v0.5.8/go.mod h1:nbz6k7qbPmH4IRqmfOplQw/tblSgqTqBwxkY0oWt/14=
 github.com/ultraware/funlen v0.0.1/go.mod h1:Dp4UiAus7Wdb9KUZsYWZEWiRzGuM2kXM1lPbfaF6xhA=
 github.com/ultraware/funlen v0.0.2/go.mod h1:Dp4UiAus7Wdb9KUZsYWZEWiRzGuM2kXM1lPbfaF6xhA=
 github.com/urfave/cli v1.20.0 h1:fDqGv3UG/4jbVl/QkFwEdddtEDjh/5Ov6X+0B/3bPaw=
diff --git a/pkg/minikube/cruntime/containerd.go b/pkg/minikube/cruntime/containerd.go
index 8f269cfa9e07..8613b1d4e376 100644
--- a/pkg/minikube/cruntime/containerd.go
+++ b/pkg/minikube/cruntime/containerd.go
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ oom_score = 0
     enable_selinux = false
     sandbox_image = "{{ .PodInfraContainerImage }}"
     stats_collect_period = 10
-    systemd_cgroup = false
+    systemd_cgroup = {{ .SystemdCgroup }}
     enable_tls_streaming = false
     max_container_log_line_size = 16384
     [plugins.cri.containerd]
@@ -172,14 +172,20 @@ func (r *Containerd) Available() error {
 }
 
 // generateContainerdConfig sets up /etc/containerd/config.toml
-func generateContainerdConfig(cr CommandRunner, imageRepository string, kv semver.Version) error {
+func generateContainerdConfig(cr CommandRunner, imageRepository string, kv semver.Version, forceSystemd bool) error {
 	cPath := containerdConfigFile
 	t, err := template.New("containerd.config.toml").Parse(containerdConfigTemplate)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
 	pauseImage := images.Pause(kv, imageRepository)
-	opts := struct{ PodInfraContainerImage string }{PodInfraContainerImage: pauseImage}
+	opts := struct {
+		PodInfraContainerImage string
+		SystemdCgroup          bool
+	}{
+		PodInfraContainerImage: pauseImage,
+		SystemdCgroup:          forceSystemd,
+	}
 	var b bytes.Buffer
 	if err := t.Execute(&b, opts); err != nil {
 		return err
@@ -192,7 +198,7 @@ func generateContainerdConfig(cr CommandRunner, imageRepository string, kv semve
 }
 
 // Enable idempotently enables containerd on a host
-func (r *Containerd) Enable(disOthers, _ bool) error {
+func (r *Containerd) Enable(disOthers, forceSystemd bool) error {
 	if disOthers {
 		if err := disableOthers(r, r.Runner); err != nil {
 			klog.Warningf("disableOthers: %v", err)
@@ -201,7 +207,7 @@ func (r *Containerd) Enable(disOthers, _ bool) error {
 	if err := populateCRIConfig(r.Runner, r.SocketPath()); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
-	if err := generateContainerdConfig(r.Runner, r.ImageRepository, r.KubernetesVersion); err != nil {
+	if err := generateContainerdConfig(r.Runner, r.ImageRepository, r.KubernetesVersion, forceSystemd); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
 	if err := enableIPForwarding(r.Runner); err != nil {
diff --git a/site/content/en/docs/commands/start.md b/site/content/en/docs/commands/start.md
index edaea7cb3a19..aac90df39d8b 100644
--- a/site/content/en/docs/commands/start.md
+++ b/site/content/en/docs/commands/start.md
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ minikube start [flags]
                                           		Valid kubeadm parameters: ignore-preflight-errors, dry-run, kubeconfig, kubeconfig-dir, node-name, cri-socket, experimental-upload-certs, certificate-key, rootfs, skip-phases, pod-network-cidr
       --feature-gates string              A set of key=value pairs that describe feature gates for alpha/experimental features.
       --force                             Force minikube to perform possibly dangerous operations
-      --force-systemd                     If set, force the container runtime to use sytemd as cgroup manager. Currently available for docker and crio. Defaults to false.
+      --force-systemd                     If set, force the container runtime to use sytemd as cgroup manager. Defaults to false.
       --host-dns-resolver                 Enable host resolver for NAT DNS requests (virtualbox driver only) (default true)
       --host-only-cidr string             The CIDR to be used for the minikube VM (virtualbox driver only) (default "192.168.99.1/24")
       --host-only-nic-type string         NIC Type used for host only network. One of Am79C970A, Am79C973, 82540EM, 82543GC, 82545EM, or virtio (virtualbox driver only) (default "virtio")