diff --git a/playbooks/common-tasks/os-lxc-container-setup.yml b/playbooks/common-tasks/os-lxc-container-setup.yml
index e85416ce26..920de9b805 100644
--- a/playbooks/common-tasks/os-lxc-container-setup.yml
+++ b/playbooks/common-tasks/os-lxc-container-setup.yml
@@ -88,6 +88,18 @@
   tags:
     - common-lxc
 
+- name: Check container state
+  command: "lxc-info -n {{ inventory_hostname }} --state"
+  changed_when: false
+  delegate_to: "{{ physical_host }}"
+  register: _lxc_container_state
+  until: _lxc_container_state | success
+  retries: 3
+  delay: 5
+  when:
+    - not is_metal | bool
+    - (_mc is defined and _mc | changed) or (_ec is defined and _ec | changed)
+
 # Due to https://github.com/ansible/ansible-modules-extras/issues/2691
 # this uses the LXC CLI tools to ensure that we get logging.
 # TODO(odyssey4me): revisit this once the bug is fixed and released
@@ -103,6 +115,7 @@
   when:
     - not is_metal | bool
     - (_mc is defined and _mc | changed) or (_ec is defined and _ec | changed)
+    - _lxc_container_state.stdout.find('RUNNING') != -1
   tags:
     - common-lxc