diff --git a/salt/master.py b/salt/master.py
index 0972cd2230bd..ef07d887cf4a 100644
--- a/salt/master.py
+++ b/salt/master.py
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@
 import salt.utils.minions
 import salt.utils.gzip_util
 import salt.utils.process
+from salt.exceptions import FileserverConfigError
 from salt.utils.debug import enable_sigusr1_handler, enable_sigusr2_handler, inspect_stack
 from salt.utils.event import tagify
 import binascii
@@ -267,6 +268,13 @@ def _pre_flight(self):
                 'Failed to load fileserver backends, the configured backends '
                 'are: {0}'.format(', '.join(self.opts['fileserver_backend']))
             )
+        else:
+            # Run init() for all backends which support the function, to
+            # double-check configuration
+            try:
+                fileserver.init()
+            except FileserverConfigError as exc:
+                errors.append('{0}'.format(exc))
         if not self.opts['fileserver_backend']:
             errors.append('No fileserver backends are configured')
         if errors: