diff --git a/plugin/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/watcher/Watcher.java b/plugin/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/watcher/Watcher.java
index 510534abc62..24ca4579055 100644
--- a/plugin/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/watcher/Watcher.java
+++ b/plugin/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/watcher/Watcher.java
@@ -208,7 +208,9 @@ public class Watcher implements ActionPlugin, ScriptPlugin {
         transportClient = "transport".equals(settings.get(Client.CLIENT_TYPE_SETTING_S.getKey()));
         this.enabled = XPackSettings.WATCHER_ENABLED.get(settings);
         this.transportClientMode = XPackPlugin.transportClientMode(settings);
-        validAutoCreateIndex(settings);
+        if (enabled && transportClientMode == false) {
+            validAutoCreateIndex(settings);
+        }
     }
 
     public Collection<Object> createComponents(Clock clock, ScriptService scriptService, InternalClient internalClient,
diff --git a/plugin/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/watcher/WatcherPluginDisableTests.java b/plugin/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/watcher/WatcherPluginDisableTests.java
index 9de8d166857..4215bf1aaae 100644
--- a/plugin/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/watcher/WatcherPluginDisableTests.java
+++ b/plugin/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/watcher/WatcherPluginDisableTests.java
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import java.util.Collections;
 import org.apache.http.HttpStatus;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.admin.cluster.node.info.NodeInfo;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.admin.cluster.node.info.NodesInfoResponse;
+import org.elasticsearch.action.support.AutoCreateIndex;
 import org.elasticsearch.client.ResponseException;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.network.NetworkModule;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
@@ -37,6 +38,8 @@ public class WatcherPluginDisableTests extends ESIntegTestCase {
         return Settings.builder()
                 .put(super.nodeSettings(nodeOrdinal))
                 .put(XPackSettings.WATCHER_ENABLED.getKey(), false)
+                // prevent auto index creation, as watcher is disabled this should work
+                .put(AutoCreateIndex.AUTO_CREATE_INDEX_SETTING.getKey(), false)
 
                 // disable security because of query cache check and authentication/authorization
                 .put(XPackSettings.SECURITY_ENABLED.getKey(), false)