diff --git a/errdefs/grpc.go b/errdefs/grpc.go
index 2aa2e11b4..6a3bbcaa1 100644
--- a/errdefs/grpc.go
+++ b/errdefs/grpc.go
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@ import (
 	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/pkg/errors"
-	"google.golang.org/grpc"
 	"google.golang.org/grpc/codes"
 	"google.golang.org/grpc/status"
 )
@@ -61,7 +60,7 @@ func FromGRPC(err error) error {
 
 	var cls error // divide these into error classes, becomes the cause
 
-	switch grpc.Code(err) {
+	switch code(err) {
 	case codes.InvalidArgument:
 		cls = ErrInvalidArgument
 	case codes.AlreadyExists:
@@ -94,7 +93,7 @@ func FromGRPC(err error) error {
 // Effectively, we just remove the string of cls from the end of err if it
 // appears there.
 func rebaseMessage(cls error, err error) string {
-	desc := grpc.ErrorDesc(err)
+	desc := errDesc(err)
 	clss := cls.Error()
 	if desc == clss {
 		return ""
@@ -107,3 +106,17 @@ func isGRPCError(err error) bool {
 	_, ok := status.FromError(err)
 	return ok
 }
+
+func code(err error) codes.Code {
+	if s, ok := status.FromError(err); ok {
+		return s.Code()
+	}
+	return codes.Unknown
+}
+
+func errDesc(err error) string {
+	if s, ok := status.FromError(err); ok {
+		return s.Message()
+	}
+	return err.Error()
+}
diff --git a/linux/runtime.go b/linux/runtime.go
index 95f9242e0..af07a6001 100644
--- a/linux/runtime.go
+++ b/linux/runtime.go
@@ -268,7 +268,8 @@ func (r *Runtime) Create(ctx context.Context, id string, opts runtime.CreateOpts
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, errdefs.FromGRPC(err)
 	}
-	t, err := newTask(id, namespace, int(cr.Pid), s, r.monitor, r.events, proc.NewRunc(ropts.RuntimeRoot, sopts.Bundle, namespace, rt, ropts.CriuPath, ropts.SystemdCgroup))
+	t, err := newTask(id, namespace, int(cr.Pid), s, r.monitor, r.events,
+		proc.NewRunc(ropts.RuntimeRoot, sopts.Bundle, namespace, rt, ropts.CriuPath, ropts.SystemdCgroup))
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
@@ -396,6 +397,7 @@ func (r *Runtime) loadTasks(ctx context.Context, ns string) ([]*Task, error) {
 			filepath.Join(r.state, ns, id),
 			filepath.Join(r.root, ns, id),
 		)
+		ctx = namespaces.WithNamespace(ctx, ns)
 		pid, _ := runc.ReadPidFile(filepath.Join(bundle.path, proc.InitPidFile))
 		s, err := bundle.NewShimClient(ctx, ns, ShimConnect(), nil)
 		if err != nil {
@@ -417,7 +419,8 @@ func (r *Runtime) loadTasks(ctx context.Context, ns string) ([]*Task, error) {
 			continue
 		}
 
-		t, err := newTask(id, ns, pid, s, r.monitor, r.events, proc.NewRunc(ropts.RuntimeRoot, bundle.path, ns, ropts.Runtime, ropts.CriuPath, ropts.SystemdCgroup))
+		t, err := newTask(id, ns, pid, s, r.monitor, r.events,
+			proc.NewRunc(ropts.RuntimeRoot, bundle.path, ns, ropts.Runtime, ropts.CriuPath, ropts.SystemdCgroup))
 		if err != nil {
 			log.G(ctx).WithError(err).Error("loading task type")
 			continue
@@ -543,5 +546,5 @@ func (r *Runtime) getRuncOptions(ctx context.Context, id string) (*runctypes.Run
 
 		return ropts, nil
 	}
-	return &runcopts.RuncOptions{}, nil
+	return &runctypes.RuncOptions{}, nil
 }
diff --git a/linux/shim/service.go b/linux/shim/service.go
index 31c054392..566811dee 100644
--- a/linux/shim/service.go
+++ b/linux/shim/service.go
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/containerd/containerd/linux/runctypes"
 	shimapi "github.com/containerd/containerd/linux/shim/v1"
 	"github.com/containerd/containerd/log"
+	"github.com/containerd/containerd/namespaces"
 	"github.com/containerd/containerd/reaper"
 	"github.com/containerd/containerd/runtime"
 	runc "github.com/containerd/go-runc"
@@ -46,7 +47,7 @@ func NewService(config Config, publisher events.Publisher) (*Service, error) {
 	if config.Namespace == "" {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("shim namespace cannot be empty")
 	}
-	ctx := context.Background()
+	ctx := namespaces.WithNamespace(context.Background(), config.Namespace)
 	ctx = log.WithLogger(ctx, logrus.WithFields(logrus.Fields{
 		"namespace": config.Namespace,
 		"path":      config.Path,