diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index 65108d77bc7..aa2616095c6 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -334,6 +334,7 @@ Release 0.21.0 - Unreleased
    HBASE-2562  bin/hbase doesn't work in-situ in maven
                (Todd Lipcon via Stack)
    HBASE-2449  Local HBase does not stop properly
+   HBASE-2539  Cannot start ZK before the rest in tests anymore
 
   IMPROVEMENTS
    HBASE-1760  Cleanup TODOs in HTable
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/HBaseTestingUtility.java b/core/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/HBaseTestingUtility.java
index 03814eb4fe6..a6aca1d85ba 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/HBaseTestingUtility.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/HBaseTestingUtility.java
@@ -151,13 +151,14 @@ public class HBaseTestingUtility {
    * @see #shutdownMiniZKCluster()
    */
   public void startMiniZKCluster() throws Exception {
-    isRunningCluster();
-    this.clusterTestBuildDir = setupClusterTestBuildDir();
-    startMiniZKCluster(this.clusterTestBuildDir);
+    startMiniZKCluster(setupClusterTestBuildDir());
 
   }
 
   private void startMiniZKCluster(final File dir) throws Exception {
+    if (this.zkCluster != null) {
+      throw new IOException("Cluster already running at " + dir);
+    }
     this.zkCluster = new MiniZooKeeperCluster();
     int clientPort = this.zkCluster.startup(dir);
     this.conf.set("hbase.zookeeper.property.clientPort",
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/TestZooKeeper.java b/core/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/TestZooKeeper.java
index 7ae00f6ef87..5df956c56c2 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/TestZooKeeper.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/TestZooKeeper.java
@@ -45,6 +45,8 @@ public class TestZooKeeper {
    */
   @BeforeClass
   public static void setUpBeforeClass() throws Exception {
+    // Test we can first start the ZK cluster by itself
+    TEST_UTIL.startMiniZKCluster();
     TEST_UTIL.getConfiguration().setBoolean("dfs.support.append", true);
     TEST_UTIL.startMiniCluster(1);
   }