diff --git a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/action/admin/cluster/tasks/PendingTasksBlocksIT.java b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/action/admin/cluster/tasks/PendingTasksBlocksIT.java
index d3c4db8d5ad..63900424bb9 100644
--- a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/action/admin/cluster/tasks/PendingTasksBlocksIT.java
+++ b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/action/admin/cluster/tasks/PendingTasksBlocksIT.java
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ public class PendingTasksBlocksIT extends ESIntegTestCase {
         assertNotNull(client().admin().cluster().preparePendingClusterTasks().get().getPendingTasks());
 
         // starting one more node allows the cluster to recover
-        internalCluster().startNode();
+        internalCluster().startDataOnlyNode(); // cannot update minimum_master_nodes before the cluster has formed
         ensureGreen();
     }