diff --git a/cmd/ipfs/daemon.go b/cmd/ipfs/daemon.go
index aa88187220b..2aed209add9 100644
--- a/cmd/ipfs/daemon.go
+++ b/cmd/ipfs/daemon.go
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ import (
 	fsrepo "github.com/ipfs/go-ipfs/repo/fsrepo"
 	migrate "github.com/ipfs/go-ipfs/repo/fsrepo/migrations"
 
+	"github.com/hashicorp/go-multierror"
 	"github.com/ipfs/go-ipfs-cmdkit"
 	cmds "github.com/ipfs/go-ipfs-cmds"
 	mprome "github.com/ipfs/go-metrics-prometheus"
@@ -278,6 +279,10 @@ func daemonFunc(req *cmds.Request, re cmds.ResponseEmitter, env cmds.Environment
 		break
 	}
 
+	// The node will also close the repo but there are many places we could
+	// fail before we get to that. It can't hurt to close it twice.
+	defer repo.Close()
+
 	cfg, err := cctx.GetConfig()
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
@@ -417,13 +422,14 @@ func daemonFunc(req *cmds.Request, re cmds.ResponseEmitter, env cmds.Environment
 
 	// collect long-running errors and block for shutdown
 	// TODO(cryptix): our fuse currently doesnt follow this pattern for graceful shutdown
+	var errs error
 	for err := range merge(apiErrc, gwErrc, gcErrc) {
 		if err != nil {
-			return err
+			errs = multierror.Append(errs, err)
 		}
 	}
 
-	return nil
+	return errs
 }
 
 // serveHTTPApi collects options, creates listener, prints status message and starts serving requests
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index 7fef560de5d..52368d6cdc0 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ require (
 	github.com/fatih/color v1.7.0 // indirect
 	github.com/fsnotify/fsnotify v1.4.7
 	github.com/gogo/protobuf v1.2.1
+	github.com/hashicorp/go-multierror v1.0.0
 	github.com/hashicorp/golang-lru v0.5.1
 	github.com/hsanjuan/go-libp2p-http v0.0.2
 	github.com/ipfs/dir-index-html v1.0.3
diff --git a/test/sharness/t0060-daemon.sh b/test/sharness/t0060-daemon.sh
index 3a59108919e..a488bf817cf 100755
--- a/test/sharness/t0060-daemon.sh
+++ b/test/sharness/t0060-daemon.sh
@@ -128,6 +128,11 @@ test_expect_success "daemon with pipe eventually becomes live" '
   test_fsh cat stdin_daemon_out || test_fsh cat stdin_daemon_err || test_fsh cat stdin_poll_apiout || test_fsh cat stdin_poll_apierr
 '
 
+test_expect_success "'ipfs daemon' cleans up when it fails to start" '
+  test_must_fail ipfs daemon --routing=foobar &&
+  test ! -e "$IPFS_PATH/repo.lock"
+'
+
 ulimit -S -n 512
 TEST_ULIMIT_PRESET=1
 test_launch_ipfs_daemon