diff --git a/pkg/acsengine/defaults.go b/pkg/acsengine/defaults.go
index 3cc2327fea..dfc6dd921f 100644
--- a/pkg/acsengine/defaults.go
+++ b/pkg/acsengine/defaults.go
@@ -491,10 +491,11 @@ func setExtensionDefaults(a *api.Properties) {
 }
 
 func setMasterProfileDefaults(a *api.Properties, isUpgrade bool) {
-	// don't default Distro for OpenShift
-	if !a.OrchestratorProfile.IsOpenShift() {
-		if a.MasterProfile.Distro == "" {
+	if a.MasterProfile.Distro == "" {
+		if a.OrchestratorProfile.IsKubernetes() {
 			a.MasterProfile.Distro = api.AKS
+		} else if !a.OrchestratorProfile.IsOpenShift() {
+			a.MasterProfile.Distro = api.Ubuntu
 		}
 	}
 	// set default to VMAS for now
@@ -646,14 +647,15 @@ func setAgentProfileDefaults(a *api.Properties, isUpgrade, isScale bool) {
 			profile.AcceleratedNetworkingEnabled = helpers.PointerToBool(!isUpgrade && !isScale && helpers.AcceleratedNetworkingSupported(profile.VMSize))
 		}
 
-		// don't default Distro for OpenShift
-		if !a.OrchestratorProfile.IsOpenShift() {
-			if profile.Distro == "" {
+		if profile.Distro == "" {
+			if a.OrchestratorProfile.IsKubernetes() {
 				if profile.OSDiskSizeGB != 0 && profile.OSDiskSizeGB < api.VHDDiskSizeAKS {
 					profile.Distro = api.Ubuntu
 				} else {
 					profile.Distro = api.AKS
 				}
+			} else if !a.OrchestratorProfile.IsOpenShift() {
+				profile.Distro = api.Ubuntu
 			}
 		}
 
diff --git a/pkg/acsengine/defaults_test.go b/pkg/acsengine/defaults_test.go
index 05e687ae8f..8d74653056 100644
--- a/pkg/acsengine/defaults_test.go
+++ b/pkg/acsengine/defaults_test.go
@@ -652,14 +652,14 @@ func TestSetComponentsNetworkDefaults(t *testing.T) {
 		expectedDistro      api.Distro              // expected result default disto to be used
 	}{
 		{
-			"ubuntu_kubernetes",
+			"default_kubernetes",
 			api.OrchestratorProfile{
 				OrchestratorType: api.Kubernetes,
 			},
 			api.AKS,
 		},
 		{
-			"rhel_openshift",
+			"default_openshift",
 			api.OrchestratorProfile{
 				OrchestratorType: api.OpenShift,
 			},