diff --git a/client.go b/client.go
index d0a57199c..65c28b8b3 100644
--- a/client.go
+++ b/client.go
@@ -192,6 +192,7 @@ func defaultRemoteContext() *RemoteContext {
 		Resolver: docker.NewResolver(docker.ResolverOptions{
 			Client: http.DefaultClient,
 		}),
+		Snapshotter: DefaultSnapshotter,
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/container.go b/container.go
index 9eb66adef..9d74a9932 100644
--- a/container.go
+++ b/container.go
@@ -174,6 +174,10 @@ func (c *container) NewTask(ctx context.Context, ioCreate IOCreation, opts ...Ne
 		Stderr:      cfg.Stderr,
 	}
 	if c.c.RootFS != "" {
+		if c.c.Snapshotter == "" {
+			return nil, errors.Wrapf(errdefs.ErrInvalidArgument, "unable to resolve rootfs mounts without snapshotter on container")
+		}
+
 		// get the rootfs from the snapshotter and add it to the request
 		mounts, err := c.client.SnapshotService(c.c.Snapshotter).Mounts(ctx, c.c.RootFS)
 		if err != nil {
diff --git a/container_opts.go b/container_opts.go
index 8140c7889..8e90be36c 100644
--- a/container_opts.go
+++ b/container_opts.go
@@ -4,7 +4,9 @@ import (
 	"context"
 
 	"github.com/containerd/containerd/containers"
+	"github.com/containerd/containerd/errdefs"
 	"github.com/opencontainers/image-spec/identity"
+	"github.com/pkg/errors"
 )
 
 // NewContainerOpts allows the caller to set additional options when creating a container
@@ -38,6 +40,8 @@ func WithContainerLabels(labels map[string]string) NewContainerOpts {
 }
 
 // WithSnapshotter sets the provided snapshotter for use by the container
+//
+// This option must appear before other snapshotter options to have an effect.
 func WithSnapshotter(name string) NewContainerOpts {
 	return func(ctx context.Context, client *Client, c *containers.Container) error {
 		c.Snapshotter = name
@@ -48,6 +52,7 @@ func WithSnapshotter(name string) NewContainerOpts {
 // WithSnapshot uses an existing root filesystem for the container
 func WithSnapshot(id string) NewContainerOpts {
 	return func(ctx context.Context, client *Client, c *containers.Container) error {
+		setSnapshotterIfEmpty(c)
 		// check that the snapshot exists, if not, fail on creation
 		if _, err := client.SnapshotService(c.Snapshotter).Mounts(ctx, id); err != nil {
 			return err
@@ -65,6 +70,7 @@ func WithNewSnapshot(id string, i Image) NewContainerOpts {
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
+		setSnapshotterIfEmpty(c)
 		if _, err := client.SnapshotService(c.Snapshotter).Prepare(ctx, id, identity.ChainID(diffIDs).String()); err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
@@ -77,6 +83,9 @@ func WithNewSnapshot(id string, i Image) NewContainerOpts {
 // WithSnapshotCleanup deletes the rootfs allocated for the container
 func WithSnapshotCleanup(ctx context.Context, client *Client, c containers.Container) error {
 	if c.RootFS != "" {
+		if c.Snapshotter == "" {
+			return errors.Wrapf(errdefs.ErrInvalidArgument, "container.Snapshotter must be set to cleanup rootfs")
+		}
 		return client.SnapshotService(c.Snapshotter).Remove(ctx, c.RootFS)
 	}
 	return nil
@@ -90,6 +99,7 @@ func WithNewSnapshotView(id string, i Image) NewContainerOpts {
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
+		setSnapshotterIfEmpty(c)
 		if _, err := client.SnapshotService(c.Snapshotter).View(ctx, id, identity.ChainID(diffIDs).String()); err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
@@ -98,3 +108,9 @@ func WithNewSnapshotView(id string, i Image) NewContainerOpts {
 		return nil
 	}
 }
+
+func setSnapshotterIfEmpty(c *containers.Container) {
+	if c.Snapshotter == "" {
+		c.Snapshotter = DefaultSnapshotter
+	}
+}
diff --git a/container_opts_unix.go b/container_opts_unix.go
index be69500bd..73e5486bd 100644
--- a/container_opts_unix.go
+++ b/container_opts_unix.go
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@ func WithCheckpoint(desc v1.Descriptor, rootfsID string) NewContainerOpts {
 				if err != nil {
 					return err
 				}
+				setSnapshotterIfEmpty(c)
 				if _, err := client.SnapshotService(c.Snapshotter).Prepare(ctx, rootfsID, identity.ChainID(diffIDs).String()); err != nil {
 					if !errdefs.IsAlreadyExists(err) {
 						return err
diff --git a/services/snapshot/default_linux.go b/services/snapshot/default_linux.go
deleted file mode 100644
index 13f75af41..000000000
--- a/services/snapshot/default_linux.go
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,5 +0,0 @@
-package snapshot
-
-const (
-	defaultSnapshotter = "overlayfs"
-)
diff --git a/services/snapshot/default_unix.go b/services/snapshot/default_unix.go
deleted file mode 100644
index 3489cf8cf..000000000
--- a/services/snapshot/default_unix.go
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,7 +0,0 @@
-// +build darwin freebsd solaris
-
-package snapshot
-
-const (
-	defaultSnapshotter = "naive"
-)
diff --git a/services/snapshot/default_windows.go b/services/snapshot/default_windows.go
deleted file mode 100644
index 680631e32..000000000
--- a/services/snapshot/default_windows.go
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,5 +0,0 @@
-package snapshot
-
-const (
-	defaultSnapshotter = "windows"
-)
diff --git a/services/snapshot/service.go b/services/snapshot/service.go
index 6c6ef8818..293a643e3 100644
--- a/services/snapshot/service.go
+++ b/services/snapshot/service.go
@@ -20,11 +20,6 @@ import (
 	"google.golang.org/grpc"
 )
 
-type config struct {
-	// Default is the default snapshotter to use for the service
-	Default string `toml:"default,omitempty"`
-}
-
 func init() {
 	plugin.Register(&plugin.Registration{
 		Type: plugin.GRPCPlugin,
@@ -33,9 +28,6 @@ func init() {
 			plugin.SnapshotPlugin,
 			plugin.MetadataPlugin,
 		},
-		Config: &config{
-			Default: defaultSnapshotter,
-		},
 		Init: newService,
 	})
 }
@@ -43,9 +35,8 @@ func init() {
 var empty = &protoempty.Empty{}
 
 type service struct {
-	snapshotters           map[string]snapshot.Snapshotter
-	defaultSnapshotterName string
-	publisher              events.Publisher
+	snapshotters map[string]snapshot.Snapshotter
+	publisher    events.Publisher
 }
 
 func newService(ic *plugin.InitContext) (interface{}, error) {
@@ -62,26 +53,24 @@ func newService(ic *plugin.InitContext) (interface{}, error) {
 		snapshotters[name] = metadata.NewSnapshotter(md.(*bolt.DB), name, sn.(snapshot.Snapshotter))
 	}
 
-	cfg := ic.Config.(*config)
-	_, ok := snapshotters[cfg.Default]
-	if !ok {
-		return nil, errors.Errorf("default snapshotter not loaded: %s", cfg.Default)
+	if len(snapshotters) == 0 {
+		return nil, errors.Errorf("failed to create snapshotter service: no snapshotters loaded")
 	}
 
 	return &service{
-		snapshotters:           snapshotters,
-		defaultSnapshotterName: cfg.Default,
-		publisher:              ic.Events,
+		snapshotters: snapshotters,
+		publisher:    ic.Events,
 	}, nil
 }
 
 func (s *service) getSnapshotter(name string) (snapshot.Snapshotter, error) {
 	if name == "" {
-		name = s.defaultSnapshotterName
+		return nil, errdefs.ToGRPCf(errdefs.ErrInvalidArgument, "snapshotter argument missing")
 	}
+
 	sn, ok := s.snapshotters[name]
 	if !ok {
-		return nil, errors.Errorf("snapshotter not loaded: %s", name)
+		return nil, errdefs.ToGRPCf(errdefs.ErrInvalidArgument, "snapshotter not loaded: %s", name)
 	}
 	return sn, nil
 }
diff --git a/snapshot_test.go b/snapshot_test.go
index d52bc79cc..ccf28c70c 100644
--- a/snapshot_test.go
+++ b/snapshot_test.go
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ func newSnapshotter(ctx context.Context, root string) (snapshot.Snapshotter, fun
 		return nil, nil, err
 	}
 
-	sn := client.SnapshotService("")
+	sn := client.SnapshotService(DefaultSnapshotter)
 
 	return sn, func() {
 		client.Close()
diff --git a/snapshotter_default_linux.go b/snapshotter_default_linux.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c432a2d55
--- /dev/null
+++ b/snapshotter_default_linux.go
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+package containerd
+
+const (
+	// DefaultSnapshotter will set the default snapshotter for the platform.
+	// This will be based on the client compilation target, so take that into
+	// account when choosing this value.
+	DefaultSnapshotter = "overlayfs"
+)
diff --git a/snapshotter_default_unix.go b/snapshotter_default_unix.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..cb8b08ac1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/snapshotter_default_unix.go
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+// +build darwin freebsd solaris
+
+package containerd
+
+const (
+	// DefaultSnapshotter will set the default snapshotter for the platform.
+	// This will be based on the client compilation target, so take that into
+	// account when choosing this value.
+	DefaultSnapshotter = "naive"
+)
diff --git a/snapshotter_default_windows.go b/snapshotter_default_windows.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..3b7358218
--- /dev/null
+++ b/snapshotter_default_windows.go
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+package containerd
+
+const (
+	// DefaultSnapshotter will set the default snapshotter for the platform.
+	// This will be based on the client compilation target, so take that into
+	// account when choosing this value.
+	DefaultSnapshotter = "windows"
+)
diff --git a/spec_opts_unix.go b/spec_opts_unix.go
index bf90577ff..3e35c18c8 100644
--- a/spec_opts_unix.go
+++ b/spec_opts_unix.go
@@ -233,6 +233,9 @@ func WithRemappedSnapshot(id string, i Image, uid, gid uint32) NewContainerOpts
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
+
+		setSnapshotterIfEmpty(c)
+
 		var (
 			snapshotter = client.SnapshotService(c.Snapshotter)
 			parent      = identity.ChainID(diffIDs).String()