diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/env/NodeEnvironment.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/env/NodeEnvironment.java
index 91cb96d60d7..ecebe411534 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/env/NodeEnvironment.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/env/NodeEnvironment.java
@@ -901,11 +901,12 @@ public final class NodeEnvironment  implements Closeable {
         final NodePath[] nodePaths = nodePaths();
         for (NodePath nodePath : nodePaths) {
             assert Files.isDirectory(nodePath.path) : nodePath.path + " is not a directory";
-            final Path src = nodePath.path.resolve("__es__.tmp");
-            final Path target = nodePath.path.resolve("__es__.final");
+            final Path src = nodePath.path.resolve(TEMP_FILE_NAME + ".tmp");
+            final Path target = nodePath.path.resolve(TEMP_FILE_NAME + ".final");
             try {
+                Files.deleteIfExists(src);
                 Files.createFile(src);
-                Files.move(src, target, StandardCopyOption.ATOMIC_MOVE);
+                Files.move(src, target, StandardCopyOption.ATOMIC_MOVE, StandardCopyOption.REPLACE_EXISTING);
             } catch (AtomicMoveNotSupportedException ex) {
                 throw new IllegalStateException("atomic_move is not supported by the filesystem on path ["
                         + nodePath.path
@@ -1005,19 +1006,19 @@ public final class NodeEnvironment  implements Closeable {
         }
     }
 
+    // package private for testing
+    static final String TEMP_FILE_NAME = ".es_temp_file";
+
     private static void tryWriteTempFile(Path path) throws IOException {
         if (Files.exists(path)) {
-            Path resolve = path.resolve(".es_temp_file");
-            boolean tempFileCreated = false;
+            Path resolve = path.resolve(TEMP_FILE_NAME);
             try {
+                // delete any lingering file from a previous failure
+                Files.deleteIfExists(resolve);
                 Files.createFile(resolve);
-                tempFileCreated = true;
+                Files.delete(resolve);
             } catch (IOException ex) {
-                throw new IOException("failed to write in data directory [" + path + "] write permission is required", ex);
-            } finally {
-                if (tempFileCreated) {
-                    Files.deleteIfExists(resolve);
-                }
+                throw new IOException("failed to test writes in data directory [" + path + "] write permission is required", ex);
             }
         }
     }
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/env/NodeEnvironmentTests.java b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/env/NodeEnvironmentTests.java
index f067212caaf..42cb4a5811b 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/env/NodeEnvironmentTests.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/env/NodeEnvironmentTests.java
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ import org.elasticsearch.test.ESTestCase;
 import org.elasticsearch.test.IndexSettingsModule;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.nio.file.AtomicMoveNotSupportedException;
 import java.nio.file.Files;
 import java.nio.file.Path;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
@@ -416,6 +417,39 @@ public class NodeEnvironmentTests extends ESTestCase {
         env.close();
     }
 
+    public void testExistingTempFiles() throws IOException {
+        String[] paths = tmpPaths();
+        // simulate some previous left over temp files
+        for (String path : randomSubsetOf(randomIntBetween(1, paths.length), paths)) {
+            final Path nodePath = NodeEnvironment.resolveNodePath(PathUtils.get(path), 0);
+            Files.createDirectories(nodePath);
+            Files.createFile(nodePath.resolve(NodeEnvironment.TEMP_FILE_NAME));
+            if (randomBoolean()) {
+                Files.createFile(nodePath.resolve(NodeEnvironment.TEMP_FILE_NAME + ".tmp"));
+            }
+            if (randomBoolean()) {
+                Files.createFile(nodePath.resolve(NodeEnvironment.TEMP_FILE_NAME + ".final"));
+            }
+        }
+        NodeEnvironment env = newNodeEnvironment(paths, Settings.EMPTY);
+        try {
+            env.ensureAtomicMoveSupported();
+        } catch (AtomicMoveNotSupportedException e) {
+            // that's OK :)
+        }
+        env.close();
+        // check we clean up
+        for (String path: paths) {
+            final Path nodePath = NodeEnvironment.resolveNodePath(PathUtils.get(path), 0);
+            final Path tempFile = nodePath.resolve(NodeEnvironment.TEMP_FILE_NAME);
+            assertFalse(tempFile + " should have been cleaned", Files.exists(tempFile));
+            final Path srcTempFile = nodePath.resolve(NodeEnvironment.TEMP_FILE_NAME + ".src");
+            assertFalse(srcTempFile + " should have been cleaned", Files.exists(srcTempFile));
+            final Path targetTempFile = nodePath.resolve(NodeEnvironment.TEMP_FILE_NAME + ".target");
+            assertFalse(targetTempFile + " should have been cleaned", Files.exists(targetTempFile));
+        }
+    }
+
     /** Converts an array of Strings to an array of Paths, adding an additional child if specified */
     private Path[] stringsToPaths(String[] strings, String additional) {
         Path[] locations = new Path[strings.length];
diff --git a/qa/evil-tests/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/env/NodeEnvironmentEvilTests.java b/qa/evil-tests/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/env/NodeEnvironmentEvilTests.java
index ccf5e1b105e..3eebf4a2f64 100644
--- a/qa/evil-tests/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/env/NodeEnvironmentEvilTests.java
+++ b/qa/evil-tests/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/env/NodeEnvironmentEvilTests.java
@@ -30,7 +30,6 @@ import java.nio.file.Path;
 import java.nio.file.attribute.PosixFileAttributeView;
 import java.nio.file.attribute.PosixFilePermission;
 import java.util.Arrays;
-import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.HashSet;
 
 public class NodeEnvironmentEvilTests extends ESTestCase {
@@ -75,7 +74,7 @@ public class NodeEnvironmentEvilTests extends ESTestCase {
             IOException ioException = expectThrows(IOException.class, () -> {
                 new NodeEnvironment(build, new Environment(build));
             });
-            assertTrue(ioException.getMessage(), ioException.getMessage().startsWith("failed to write in data directory"));
+            assertTrue(ioException.getMessage(), ioException.getMessage().startsWith("failed to test writes in data directory"));
         }
     }
 
@@ -100,7 +99,7 @@ public class NodeEnvironmentEvilTests extends ESTestCase {
             IOException ioException = expectThrows(IOException.class, () -> {
                 new NodeEnvironment(build, new Environment(build));
             });
-            assertTrue(ioException.getMessage(), ioException.getMessage().startsWith("failed to write in data directory"));
+            assertTrue(ioException.getMessage(), ioException.getMessage().startsWith("failed to test writes in data directory"));
         }
     }
 }