diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/IndexShard.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/IndexShard.java
index b54f8b65743..92c7896b68c 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/IndexShard.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/IndexShard.java
@@ -57,6 +57,7 @@ import org.elasticsearch.common.unit.ByteSizeValue;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.unit.TimeValue;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.util.concurrent.FutureUtils;
 import org.elasticsearch.env.NodeEnvironment;
+import org.elasticsearch.gateway.MetaDataStateFormat;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.IndexService;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.VersionType;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.aliases.IndexAliasesService;
@@ -1005,6 +1006,17 @@ public class IndexShard extends AbstractIndexShardComponent {
         return flushOnClose;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Deletes the shards metadata state. This method can only be executed if the shard is not active.
+     * @throws IOException if the delete fails
+     */
+    public void deleteShardState() throws IOException {
+        if (this.routingEntry() != null &&  this.routingEntry().active()) {
+            throw new ElasticsearchIllegalStateException("Can't delete shard state on a active shard");
+        }
+        MetaDataStateFormat.deleteMetaState(nodeEnv.shardPaths(shardId));
+    }
+
     private class ApplyRefreshSettings implements IndexSettingsService.Listener {
         @Override
         public void onRefreshSettings(Settings settings) {
@@ -1202,11 +1214,19 @@ public class IndexShard extends AbstractIndexShardComponent {
         // called by the current engine
         @Override
         public void onFailedEngine(ShardId shardId, String reason, @Nullable Throwable failure) {
-            for (Engine.FailedEngineListener listener : delegates) {
+            try {
+                for (Engine.FailedEngineListener listener : delegates) {
+                    try {
+                        listener.onFailedEngine(shardId, reason, failure);
+                    } catch (Exception e) {
+                        logger.warn("exception while notifying engine failure", e);
+                    }
+                }
+            } finally {
                 try {
-                    listener.onFailedEngine(shardId, reason, failure);
-                } catch (Exception e) {
-                    logger.warn("exception while notifying engine failure", e);
+                    deleteShardState();
+                } catch (IOException e) {
+                    logger.warn("failed to delete shard state", e);
                 }
             }
         }
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/RecoveryTarget.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/RecoveryTarget.java
index a9d0d85e730..01d91a60da8 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/RecoveryTarget.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/RecoveryTarget.java
@@ -386,6 +386,7 @@ public class RecoveryTarget extends AbstractComponent {
                 // first, we go and move files that were created with the recovery id suffix to
                 // the actual names, its ok if we have a corrupted index here, since we have replicas
                 // to recover from in case of a full cluster shutdown just when this code executes...
+                recoveryStatus.indexShard().deleteShardState(); // we have to delete it first since even if we fail to rename the shard might be invalid
                 recoveryStatus.renameAllTempFiles();
                 final Store store = recoveryStatus.store();
                 // now write checksums
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/IndexShardTests.java b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/IndexShardTests.java
index f414ebf1eb2..69b7d81d706 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/IndexShardTests.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/IndexShardTests.java
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 package org.elasticsearch.index.shard;
 
 import org.elasticsearch.ElasticsearchIllegalArgumentException;
+import org.elasticsearch.ElasticsearchIllegalStateException;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.ClusterService;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.metadata.IndexMetaData;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.routing.MutableShardRouting;
@@ -30,6 +31,7 @@ import org.elasticsearch.indices.IndicesService;
 import org.elasticsearch.indices.cluster.IndicesClusterStateService;
 import org.elasticsearch.test.ElasticsearchSingleNodeTest;
 
+import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.HashSet;
 import java.util.Set;
 
@@ -123,7 +125,6 @@ public class IndexShardTests extends ElasticsearchSingleNodeTest {
         assertEquals("inactive shard state shouldn't be persisted", shardStateMetaData, new ShardStateMetaData(routing.version(), routing.primary(), shard.indexSettings.get(IndexMetaData.SETTING_UUID)));
 
 
-
         shard.updateRoutingEntry(new MutableShardRouting(shard.shardRouting, shard.shardRouting.version()+1), false);
         shardStateMetaData = ShardStateMetaData.load(logger, shard.shardId, env.shardPaths(shard.shardId));
         assertFalse("shard state persisted despite of persist=false", shardStateMetaData.equals(getShardStateMetadata(shard)));
@@ -135,6 +136,34 @@ public class IndexShardTests extends ElasticsearchSingleNodeTest {
         shardStateMetaData = ShardStateMetaData.load(logger, shard.shardId, env.shardPaths(shard.shardId));
         assertEquals(shardStateMetaData, getShardStateMetadata(shard));
         assertEquals(shardStateMetaData, new ShardStateMetaData(routing.version(), routing.primary(), shard.indexSettings.get(IndexMetaData.SETTING_UUID)));
+    }
+
+    public void testDeleteShardState() throws IOException {
+        createIndex("test");
+        ensureGreen();
+        IndicesService indicesService = getInstanceFromNode(IndicesService.class);
+        NodeEnvironment env = getInstanceFromNode(NodeEnvironment.class);
+        IndexService test = indicesService.indexService("test");
+        IndexShard shard = test.shard(0);
+        try {
+            shard.deleteShardState();
+            fail("shard is active metadata delete must fail");
+        } catch (ElasticsearchIllegalStateException ex) {
+            // fine - only delete if non-active
+        }
+
+        ShardRouting routing = shard.routingEntry();
+        ShardStateMetaData shardStateMetaData = ShardStateMetaData.load(logger, shard.shardId, env.shardPaths(shard.shardId));
+        assertEquals(shardStateMetaData, getShardStateMetadata(shard));
+
+        routing = new MutableShardRouting(shard.shardId.index().getName(), shard.shardId.id(), routing.currentNodeId(), routing.primary(), ShardRoutingState.INITIALIZING, shard.shardRouting.version()+1);
+        shard.updateRoutingEntry(routing, true);
+        shard.deleteShardState();
+
+        assertNull("no shard state expected after delete on initializing", ShardStateMetaData.load(logger, shard.shardId, env.shardPaths(shard.shardId)));
+
+
+
 
     }