diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
index 95ef1ded2a0..e1466388104 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
@@ -379,6 +379,8 @@ Branch-2 ( Unreleased changes )
     HDFS-3190. Simple refactors in existing NN code to assist
     QuorumJournalManager extension. (todd)
 
+    HDFS-3276. initializeSharedEdits should have a -nonInteractive flag (todd)
+
   OPTIMIZATIONS
 
     HDFS-2982. Startup performance suffers when there are many edit log
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/NameNode.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/NameNode.java
index 1aae5873bc0..38c84151656 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/NameNode.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/NameNode.java
@@ -894,7 +894,10 @@ public class NameNode {
       StartupOption.ROLLBACK.getName() + "] | [" +
       StartupOption.FINALIZE.getName() + "] | [" +
       StartupOption.IMPORT.getName() + "] | [" +
-      StartupOption.INITIALIZESHAREDEDITS.getName() + "] | [" +
+      StartupOption.INITIALIZESHAREDEDITS.getName() + 
+        " [" + StartupOption.FORCE.getName() + "] [" +
+             StartupOption.NONINTERACTIVE.getName() + "]" +
+      "] | [" +
       StartupOption.BOOTSTRAPSTANDBY.getName() + "] | [" + 
       StartupOption.RECOVER.getName() + " [ " +
         StartupOption.FORCE.getName() + " ] ]");
@@ -964,6 +967,16 @@ public class NameNode {
         return startOpt;
       } else if (StartupOption.INITIALIZESHAREDEDITS.getName().equalsIgnoreCase(cmd)) {
         startOpt = StartupOption.INITIALIZESHAREDEDITS;
+        for (i = i + 1 ; i < argsLen; i++) {
+          if (StartupOption.NONINTERACTIVE.getName().equals(args[i])) {
+            startOpt.setInteractiveFormat(false);
+          } else if (StartupOption.FORCE.getName().equals(args[i])) {
+            startOpt.setForceFormat(true);
+          } else {
+            LOG.fatal("Invalid argument: " + args[i]);
+            return null;
+          }
+        }
         return startOpt;
       } else if (StartupOption.RECOVER.getName().equalsIgnoreCase(cmd)) {
         if (startOpt != StartupOption.REGULAR) {
@@ -1073,7 +1086,9 @@ public class NameNode {
         return null; // avoid warning
       }
       case INITIALIZESHAREDEDITS: {
-        boolean aborted = initializeSharedEdits(conf, false, true);
+        boolean aborted = initializeSharedEdits(conf,
+            startOpt.getForceFormat(),
+            startOpt.getInteractiveFormat());
         terminate(aborted ? 1 : 0);
         return null; // avoid warning
       }