diff --git a/cmd/minikube/cmd/start.go b/cmd/minikube/cmd/start.go
index 44e3d3210c1d..8b55075e9f75 100644
--- a/cmd/minikube/cmd/start.go
+++ b/cmd/minikube/cmd/start.go
@@ -822,7 +822,7 @@ func generateCfgFromFlags(cmd *cobra.Command, k8sVersion string, drvName string)
 	repository := viper.GetString(imageRepository)
 	mirrorCountry := strings.ToLower(viper.GetString(imageMirrorCountry))
 	if strings.ToLower(repository) == "auto" || mirrorCountry != "" {
-		found, autoSelectedRepository, err := selectImageRepository(mirrorCountry, semver.MustParse(k8sVersion))
+		found, autoSelectedRepository, err := selectImageRepository(mirrorCountry, semver.MustParse(strings.TrimPrefix(k8sVersion, version.VersionPrefix)))
 		if err != nil {
 			exit.WithError("Failed to check main repository and mirrors for images for images", err)
 		}
diff --git a/cmd/minikube/cmd/start_test.go b/cmd/minikube/cmd/start_test.go
index 23675528b67c..ef7e4b74033f 100644
--- a/cmd/minikube/cmd/start_test.go
+++ b/cmd/minikube/cmd/start_test.go
@@ -70,6 +70,50 @@ func TestGetKuberneterVersion(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestMirrorCountry(t *testing.T) {
+	// Set default disk size value in lieu of flag init
+	viper.SetDefault(humanReadableDiskSize, defaultDiskSize)
+
+	k8sVersion := constants.DefaultKubernetesVersion
+	var tests = []struct {
+		description     string
+		k8sVersion      string
+		imageRepository string
+		mirrorCountry   string
+		cfg             *cfg.ClusterConfig
+	}{
+		{
+			description:     "image-repository none, image-mirror-country none",
+			imageRepository: "",
+			mirrorCountry:   "",
+		},
+		{
+			description:     "image-repository auto, image-mirror-country none",
+			imageRepository: "auto",
+			mirrorCountry:   "",
+		},
+		{
+			description:     "image-repository auto, image-mirror-country china",
+			imageRepository: "auto",
+			mirrorCountry:   "cn",
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, test := range tests {
+		t.Run(test.description, func(t *testing.T) {
+			cmd := &cobra.Command{}
+			viper.SetDefault(imageRepository, test.imageRepository)
+			viper.SetDefault(imageMirrorCountry, test.mirrorCountry)
+			config, _, err := generateCfgFromFlags(cmd, k8sVersion, "none")
+			if err != nil {
+				t.Fatalf("Got unexpected error %v during config generation", err)
+			}
+			// the result can still be "", but anyway
+			_ = config.KubernetesConfig.ImageRepository
+		})
+	}
+}
+
 func TestGenerateCfgFromFlagsHTTPProxyHandling(t *testing.T) {
 	// Set default disk size value in lieu of flag init
 	viper.SetDefault(humanReadableDiskSize, defaultDiskSize)