diff --git a/cluster/gce/gci/configure-helper.sh b/cluster/gce/gci/configure-helper.sh
index 20862189ba6..f726c36d962 100644
--- a/cluster/gce/gci/configure-helper.sh
+++ b/cluster/gce/gci/configure-helper.sh
@@ -1170,6 +1170,7 @@ ExecStart=${kubelet_bin} \$KUBELET_OPTS
 WantedBy=multi-user.target
 EOF
 
+  systemctl daemon-reload
   systemctl start kubelet.service
 }