diff --git a/container_test.go b/container_test.go
index ab4ecbba4..aa13e8d04 100644
--- a/container_test.go
+++ b/container_test.go
@@ -823,9 +823,8 @@ func TestContainerNoBinaryExists(t *testing.T) {
 		if err != nil {
 			t.Fatalf("failed to create task %v", err)
 		}
-		defer task.Delete(ctx)
+		defer task.Delete(ctx, WithProcessKill)
 		if err := task.Start(ctx); err == nil {
-			task.Kill(ctx, syscall.SIGKILL)
 			t.Error("task.Start() should return an error when binary does not exist")
 		}
 	default:
diff --git a/task_opts.go b/task_opts.go
index 271c4ee9c..0e4b75e85 100644
--- a/task_opts.go
+++ b/task_opts.go
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import (
 	"context"
 	"syscall"
 
+	"github.com/containerd/containerd/errdefs"
 	"github.com/containerd/containerd/linux/runcopts"
 	"github.com/containerd/containerd/mount"
 )
@@ -33,13 +34,20 @@ type ProcessDeleteOpts func(context.Context, Process) error
 // WithProcessKill will forcefully kill and delete a process
 func WithProcessKill(ctx context.Context, p Process) error {
 	s := make(chan struct{}, 1)
+	ctx, cancel := context.WithCancel(ctx)
+	defer cancel()
 	// ignore errors to wait and kill as we are forcefully killing
 	// the process and don't care about the exit status
 	go func() {
 		p.Wait(ctx)
 		close(s)
 	}()
-	p.Kill(ctx, syscall.SIGKILL)
+	if err := p.Kill(ctx, syscall.SIGKILL); err != nil {
+		if errdefs.IsFailedPrecondition(err) || errdefs.IsNotFound(err) {
+			return nil
+		}
+		return err
+	}
 	// wait for the process to fully stop before letting the rest of the deletion complete
 	<-s
 	return nil