diff --git a/cmd/minikube/cmd/start.go b/cmd/minikube/cmd/start.go
index fc18fc314cf2..b9f5a7728cfc 100644
--- a/cmd/minikube/cmd/start.go
+++ b/cmd/minikube/cmd/start.go
@@ -1597,7 +1597,7 @@ func validateRegistryMirror() {
 // args match the format of registry.cn-hangzhou.aliyuncs.com/google_containers
 // also "<hostname>[:<port>]"
 func validateImageRepository(imageRepo string) (validImageRepo string) {
-	expression := regexp.MustCompile(`^(?:(\w+)\:\/\/)?([-a-zA-Z0-9]{1,}(?:\.[-a-zA-Z]{1,}){0,})(?:\:(\d+))?(\/.*)?$`)
+	expression := regexp.MustCompile(`^(?:(\w+)\:\/\/)?([-a-zA-Z0-9]{1,}(?:\.[-a-zA-Z0-9]{1,}){0,})(?:\:(\d+))?(\/.*)?$`)
 
 	if strings.ToLower(imageRepo) == "auto" {
 		imageRepo = "auto"
diff --git a/cmd/minikube/cmd/start_test.go b/cmd/minikube/cmd/start_test.go
index 7f11deaeff34..cf21d0dcf163 100644
--- a/cmd/minikube/cmd/start_test.go
+++ b/cmd/minikube/cmd/start_test.go
@@ -384,6 +384,18 @@ func TestValidateImageRepository(t *testing.T) {
 			imageRepository:      "registry.test.com:6666/google_containers",
 			validImageRepository: "registry.test.com:6666/google_containers",
 		},
+		{
+			imageRepository:      "registry.1test.com:6666/google_containers",
+			validImageRepository: "registry.1test.com:6666/google_containers",
+		},
+		{
+			imageRepository:      "registry.t1est.com:6666/google_containers",
+			validImageRepository: "registry.t1est.com:6666/google_containers",
+		},
+		{
+			imageRepository:      "registry.test1.com:6666/google_containers",
+			validImageRepository: "registry.test1.com:6666/google_containers",
+		},
 	}
 
 	for _, test := range tests {