diff --git a/cluster/gce/config-default.sh b/cluster/gce/config-default.sh
index 1c4d8b95cc4..db7440fe0b6 100755
--- a/cluster/gce/config-default.sh
+++ b/cluster/gce/config-default.sh
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ MASTER_DISK_TYPE=pd-ssd
 MASTER_DISK_SIZE=${MASTER_DISK_SIZE:-20GB}
 NODE_DISK_TYPE=${NODE_DISK_TYPE:-pd-standard}
 NODE_DISK_SIZE=${NODE_DISK_SIZE:-100GB}
-REGISTER_MASTER_KUBELET=${REGISTER_MASTER:-true}
+REGISTER_MASTER_KUBELET=${REGISTER_MASTER:-false}
 PREEMPTIBLE_NODE=${PREEMPTIBLE_NODE:-false}
 PREEMPTIBLE_MASTER=${PREEMPTIBLE_MASTER:-false}