diff --git a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/master/snapshot/TakeSnapshotHandler.java b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/master/snapshot/TakeSnapshotHandler.java
index 3b7d65a4958..0d652646a19 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/master/snapshot/TakeSnapshotHandler.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/master/snapshot/TakeSnapshotHandler.java
@@ -277,6 +277,7 @@ public abstract class TakeSnapshotHandler extends EventHandler implements Snapsh
     URI workingURI = workingDirFs.getUri();
     URI rootURI = fs.getUri();
     if ((!workingURI.getScheme().equals(rootURI.getScheme()) ||
+        workingURI.getAuthority() == null ||
         !workingURI.getAuthority().equals(rootURI.getAuthority()) ||
         workingURI.getUserInfo() == null ||
         !workingURI.getUserInfo().equals(rootURI.getUserInfo()) ||
@@ -365,5 +366,4 @@ public abstract class TakeSnapshotHandler extends EventHandler implements Snapsh
   public ForeignException getException() {
     return monitor.getException();
   }
-
 }
diff --git a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/snapshot/SnapshotDescriptionUtils.java b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/snapshot/SnapshotDescriptionUtils.java
index 39202c4b18a..203a58b67ab 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/snapshot/SnapshotDescriptionUtils.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/snapshot/SnapshotDescriptionUtils.java
@@ -271,9 +271,11 @@ public final class SnapshotDescriptionUtils {
    * @param conf configuration for the HBase cluster
    * @return true if the given workingDir is a subdirectory of the default working directory for
    *   snapshots, false otherwise
+   * @throws IOException if we can't get the root dir
    */
-  public static boolean isWithinDefaultWorkingDir(final Path workingDir, Configuration conf) {
-    Path defaultWorkingDir = getDefaultWorkingSnapshotDir(new Path(conf.get(HConstants.HBASE_DIR)));
+  public static boolean isWithinDefaultWorkingDir(final Path workingDir, Configuration conf)
+    throws IOException {
+    Path defaultWorkingDir = getDefaultWorkingSnapshotDir(FSUtils.getRootDir(conf));
     return workingDir.equals(defaultWorkingDir) || isSubDirectoryOf(workingDir, defaultWorkingDir);
   }
 
diff --git a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/snapshot/TestSnapshotDescriptionUtils.java b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/snapshot/TestSnapshotDescriptionUtils.java
index 81568bb9001..e2e52b40a66 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/snapshot/TestSnapshotDescriptionUtils.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/snapshot/TestSnapshotDescriptionUtils.java
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;
 import org.apache.hadoop.fs.FileSystem;
 import org.apache.hadoop.fs.Path;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HBaseClassTestRule;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HBaseConfiguration;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HBaseTestingUtility;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HConstants;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.testclassification.MediumTests;
@@ -136,30 +137,53 @@ public class TestSnapshotDescriptionUtils {
   }
 
   @Test
-  public void testIsWithinWorkingDir() {
+  public void testIsWithinWorkingDir() throws IOException {
     Configuration conf = new Configuration();
-    conf.set(HConstants.HBASE_DIR, "hdfs://root/");
+    conf.set(HConstants.HBASE_DIR, "hdfs://localhost/root/");
 
     assertFalse(SnapshotDescriptionUtils.isWithinDefaultWorkingDir(
-        new Path("hdfs://root/"), conf));
+        new Path("hdfs://localhost/root/"), conf));
     assertFalse(SnapshotDescriptionUtils.isWithinDefaultWorkingDir(
-        new Path("hdfs://root/.hbase-snapshotdir"), conf));
+        new Path("hdfs://localhost/root/.hbase-snapshotdir"), conf));
     assertFalse(SnapshotDescriptionUtils.isWithinDefaultWorkingDir(
-        new Path("hdfs://root/.hbase-snapshot"), conf));
+        new Path("hdfs://localhost/root/.hbase-snapshot"), conf));
     assertFalse(SnapshotDescriptionUtils.isWithinDefaultWorkingDir(
-        new Path("hdfs://.hbase-snapshot"), conf));
+        new Path("hdfs://localhost/.hbase-snapshot"), conf));
     assertFalse(SnapshotDescriptionUtils.isWithinDefaultWorkingDir(
-        new Path("hdfs://.hbase-snapshot/.tmp"), conf));
-    assertFalse(SnapshotDescriptionUtils.isWithinDefaultWorkingDir(new Path("hdfs://root"), conf));
+        new Path("hdfs://localhost/.hbase-snapshot/.tmp"), conf));
+    assertFalse(SnapshotDescriptionUtils.isWithinDefaultWorkingDir(
+      new Path("hdfs://localhost/root"), conf));
     assertTrue(SnapshotDescriptionUtils.isWithinDefaultWorkingDir(
-        new Path("hdfs://root/.hbase-snapshot/.tmp"), conf));
+        new Path("hdfs://localhost/root/.hbase-snapshot/.tmp"), conf));
     assertTrue(SnapshotDescriptionUtils.isWithinDefaultWorkingDir(
-        new Path("hdfs://root/.hbase-snapshot/.tmp/snapshot"), conf));
+        new Path("hdfs://localhost/root/.hbase-snapshot/.tmp/snapshot"), conf));
 
     assertFalse(SnapshotDescriptionUtils.isWithinDefaultWorkingDir(
-        new Path("s3://root/.hbase-snapshot/"), conf));
-    assertFalse(SnapshotDescriptionUtils.isWithinDefaultWorkingDir(new Path("s3://root"), conf));
+        new Path("s3://localhost/root/.hbase-snapshot/"), conf));
     assertFalse(SnapshotDescriptionUtils.isWithinDefaultWorkingDir(
-        new Path("s3://root/.hbase-snapshot/.tmp/snapshot"), conf));
+      new Path("s3://localhost/root"), conf));
+    assertFalse(SnapshotDescriptionUtils.isWithinDefaultWorkingDir(
+        new Path("s3://localhost/root/.hbase-snapshot/.tmp/snapshot"), conf));
+
+    // for local mode
+    conf = HBaseConfiguration.create();
+    String hbsaeDir = conf.get(HConstants.HBASE_DIR);
+
+    assertFalse(SnapshotDescriptionUtils.isWithinDefaultWorkingDir(
+      new Path("file:" + hbsaeDir + "/"), conf));
+    assertFalse(SnapshotDescriptionUtils.isWithinDefaultWorkingDir(
+      new Path("file:" + hbsaeDir + "/.hbase-snapshotdir"), conf));
+    assertFalse(SnapshotDescriptionUtils.isWithinDefaultWorkingDir(
+      new Path("file:" + hbsaeDir + "/.hbase-snapshot"), conf));
+    assertFalse(SnapshotDescriptionUtils.isWithinDefaultWorkingDir(
+      new Path("file:/.hbase-snapshot"), conf));
+    assertFalse(SnapshotDescriptionUtils.isWithinDefaultWorkingDir(
+      new Path("file:/.hbase-snapshot/.tmp"), conf));
+    assertFalse(SnapshotDescriptionUtils.isWithinDefaultWorkingDir(
+      new Path("file:" + hbsaeDir), conf));
+    assertTrue(SnapshotDescriptionUtils.isWithinDefaultWorkingDir(
+      new Path("file:" + hbsaeDir + "/.hbase-snapshot/.tmp"), conf));
+    assertTrue(SnapshotDescriptionUtils.isWithinDefaultWorkingDir(
+      new Path("file:" + hbsaeDir + "/.hbase-snapshot/.tmp/snapshot"), conf));
   }
 }