diff --git a/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/core/SolrCore.java b/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/core/SolrCore.java
index 238a6f6f629..d7067902c4a 100644
--- a/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/core/SolrCore.java
+++ b/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/core/SolrCore.java
@@ -1543,8 +1543,9 @@ public final class SolrCore implements SolrInfoMBean {
     toLog.add("path", req.getContext().get("path"));
     toLog.add("params", "{" + req.getParamString() + "}");
 
-    if (req.getParams().getBool(ShardParams.IS_SHARD,false) && !(handler instanceof SearchHandler))
-      throw new SolrException(SolrException.ErrorCode.BAD_REQUEST,"isShard is only acceptable with search handlers");
+    // TODO: this doesn't seem to be working correctly and causes problems with the example server and distrib (for example /spell)
+    // if (req.getParams().getBool(ShardParams.IS_SHARD,false) && !(handler instanceof SearchHandler))
+    //   throw new SolrException(SolrException.ErrorCode.BAD_REQUEST,"isShard is only acceptable with search handlers");
 
     handler.handleRequest(req,rsp);
     setResponseHeaderValues(handler,req,rsp);
diff --git a/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/TestDistributedSearch.java b/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/TestDistributedSearch.java
index 8c5e56f29a8..27958ae3442 100755
--- a/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/TestDistributedSearch.java
+++ b/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/TestDistributedSearch.java
@@ -294,7 +294,7 @@ public class TestDistributedSearch extends BaseDistributedSearchTestCase {
     try {
       ignoreException("isShard is only acceptable");
       query("q","*:*","shards.qt","/update","stream.body","<delete><query>*:*</query></delete>");
-      fail();
+      // fail();
     } catch (SolrException e) {
       //expected
     }