diff --git a/config/config.go b/config/config.go
index 87926aa6..26ba1fd2 100644
--- a/config/config.go
+++ b/config/config.go
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ func NewConfig() *Config {
 		ImagesPattern: "images*.tar",
 		StateRequired: false,
 		StateDev:         "LABEL=RANCHER_STATE",
-		StateDevFSType:   "ext4",
+		StateDevFSType:   "auto",
 		SysInit:          "/sbin/init-sys",
 		SystemDockerArgs: []string{"docker", "-d", "-s", "overlay", "-b", "none"},
 		UserInit:         "/sbin/init-user",
diff --git a/init/init.go b/init/init.go
index 0f2426b4..5025d979 100644
--- a/init/init.go
+++ b/init/init.go
@@ -213,12 +213,31 @@ func MainInit() {
 
 func mountState(cfg *config.Config) error {
 	var err error
-	if len(cfg.StateDev) == 0 {
-		log.Debugf("State will not be persisted")
-		err = util.Mount("none", STATE, "tmpfs", "")
-	} else {
-		log.Debugf("Mounting state device %s", cfg.StateDev)
-		err = util.Mount(cfg.StateDev, STATE, cfg.StateDevFSType, "")
+
+	dev := util.ResolveDevice(cfg.StateDev)
+	log.Debugf("Mounting state device %s", dev)	
+
+	fsType := cfg.StateDevFSType
+	log.Debugf("FsType has been set to %s", fsType)	
+	if fsType == "auto" {
+		actualFsType, fsErr := util.GetFsType(dev)
+		if fsErr != nil {
+			return fsErr
+		}
+		fsType = actualFsType
+	}
+	err = util.Mount(dev, STATE, fsType, "")
+
+	if err != nil {
+		if cfg.StateRequired {
+			return err
+		} else {
+			log.Debugf("State will not be persisted")
+			err = util.Mount("none", STATE, "tmpfs", "")
+			if err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+		}
 	}
 
 	if err != nil {
diff --git a/util/cutil.go b/util/cutil.go
index 6c77b3b8..1261b44a 100644
--- a/util/cutil.go
+++ b/util/cutil.go
@@ -1,16 +1,41 @@
 package util
 
 /*
-#cgo LDFLAGS: -lblkid -luuid
+#cgo LDFLAGS: -lmount -lblkid -luuid
 #include<blkid/blkid.h>
+#include<libmount/libmount.h>
 #include<stdlib.h>
 */
 import "C"
 import "unsafe"
 
+import (
+	"errors"
+)
+
 func ResolveDevice(spec string) string {
-	cString := C.blkid_evaluate_spec(C.CString(spec), nil)
+	cSpec := C.CString(spec)
+	defer C.free(unsafe.Pointer(cSpec))
+	cString := C.blkid_evaluate_spec(cSpec, nil)
 	defer C.free(unsafe.Pointer(cString)) 
 	return C.GoString(cString)
 }
 
+func GetFsType(device string) (string, error) {
+	var ambi * C.int
+	cDevice := C.CString(device)
+	defer C.free(unsafe.Pointer(cDevice))
+	cString := C.mnt_get_fstype(cDevice, ambi, nil)
+	defer C.free(unsafe.Pointer(cString))
+	if cString != nil {
+		return C.GoString(cString), nil
+	} 
+	return "", errors.New("Error while getting fstype")
+}
+
+func intToBool(value C.int) bool {
+	if value == 0 {
+		return false
+	}
+	return true
+}