diff --git a/remotes/docker/pusher.go b/remotes/docker/pusher.go
index 593aa5d93..b705c34fa 100644
--- a/remotes/docker/pusher.go
+++ b/remotes/docker/pusher.go
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ func (p dockerPusher) push(ctx context.Context, desc ocispec.Descriptor, ref str
 		if status.Committed && status.Offset == status.Total {
 			return nil, errors.Wrapf(errdefs.ErrAlreadyExists, "ref %v", ref)
 		}
-		if unavailableOnFail {
+		if unavailableOnFail && status.ErrClosed == nil {
 			// Another push of this ref is happening elsewhere. The rest of function
 			// will continue only when `errdefs.IsNotFound(err) == true` (i.e. there
 			// is no actively-tracked ref already).
@@ -354,6 +354,12 @@ func (pw *pushWriter) Write(p []byte) (n int, err error) {
 }
 
 func (pw *pushWriter) Close() error {
+	status, err := pw.tracker.GetStatus(pw.ref)
+	if err == nil && !status.Committed {
+		// Closing an incomplete writer. Record this as an error so that following write can retry it.
+		status.ErrClosed = errors.New("closed incomplete writer")
+		pw.tracker.SetStatus(pw.ref, status)
+	}
 	return pw.pipe.Close()
 }
 
diff --git a/remotes/docker/pusher_test.go b/remotes/docker/pusher_test.go
index 8b81eb3b2..2dfe9a8d4 100644
--- a/remotes/docker/pusher_test.go
+++ b/remotes/docker/pusher_test.go
@@ -17,10 +17,20 @@
 package docker
 
 import (
+	"context"
+	"fmt"
+	"io"
+	"net/http"
+	"net/http/httptest"
+	"net/url"
 	"reflect"
+	"regexp"
+	"strings"
 	"testing"
 
+	"github.com/containerd/containerd/content"
 	digest "github.com/opencontainers/go-digest"
+	ocispec "github.com/opencontainers/image-spec/specs-go/v1"
 )
 
 func TestGetManifestPath(t *testing.T) {
@@ -50,3 +60,104 @@ func TestGetManifestPath(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 	}
 }
+
+// TestPusherErrClosedRetry tests if retrying work when error occurred on close.
+func TestPusherErrClosedRetry(t *testing.T) {
+	ctx := context.Background()
+
+	p, reg, done := samplePusher(t)
+	defer done()
+
+	layerContent := []byte("test")
+	reg.uploadable = false
+	if err := tryUpload(ctx, t, p, layerContent); err == nil {
+		t.Errorf("upload should fail but succeeded")
+	}
+
+	// retry
+	reg.uploadable = true
+	if err := tryUpload(ctx, t, p, layerContent); err != nil {
+		t.Errorf("upload should succeed but got %v", err)
+	}
+}
+
+func tryUpload(ctx context.Context, t *testing.T, p dockerPusher, layerContent []byte) error {
+	desc := ocispec.Descriptor{
+		MediaType: ocispec.MediaTypeImageLayerGzip,
+		Digest:    digest.FromBytes(layerContent),
+		Size:      int64(len(layerContent)),
+	}
+	cw, err := p.Writer(ctx, content.WithRef("test-1"), content.WithDescriptor(desc))
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	defer cw.Close()
+	if _, err := cw.Write(layerContent); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	return cw.Commit(ctx, 0, "")
+}
+
+func samplePusher(t *testing.T) (dockerPusher, *uploadableMockRegistry, func()) {
+	reg := &uploadableMockRegistry{}
+	s := httptest.NewServer(reg)
+	u, err := url.Parse(s.URL)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	return dockerPusher{
+		dockerBase: &dockerBase{
+			repository: "sample",
+			hosts: []RegistryHost{
+				{
+					Client:       s.Client(),
+					Host:         u.Host,
+					Scheme:       u.Scheme,
+					Path:         u.Path,
+					Capabilities: HostCapabilityPush | HostCapabilityResolve,
+				},
+			},
+		},
+		object:  "sample",
+		tracker: NewInMemoryTracker(),
+	}, reg, s.Close
+}
+
+var manifestRegexp = regexp.MustCompile(`/([a-z0-9]+)/manifests/(.*)`)
+var blobUploadRegexp = regexp.MustCompile(`/([a-z0-9]+)/blobs/uploads/`)
+
+// uploadableMockRegistry provides minimal registry APIs which are enough to serve requests from dockerPusher.
+type uploadableMockRegistry struct {
+	uploadable bool
+}
+
+func (u *uploadableMockRegistry) ServeHTTP(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+	if r.Method == "POST" {
+		if matches := blobUploadRegexp.FindStringSubmatch(r.URL.Path); len(matches) != 0 {
+			if u.uploadable {
+				w.Header().Set("Location", "/upload")
+			} else {
+				w.Header().Set("Location", "/cannotupload")
+			}
+			w.WriteHeader(202)
+			return
+		}
+	} else if r.Method == "PUT" {
+		mfstMatches := manifestRegexp.FindStringSubmatch(r.URL.Path)
+		if len(mfstMatches) != 0 || strings.HasPrefix(r.URL.Path, "/upload") {
+			dgstr := digest.Canonical.Digester()
+			if _, err := io.Copy(dgstr.Hash(), r.Body); err != nil {
+				w.WriteHeader(500)
+				return
+			}
+			w.Header().Set("Docker-Content-Digest", dgstr.Digest().String())
+			w.WriteHeader(201)
+			return
+		} else if r.URL.Path == "/cannotupload" {
+			w.WriteHeader(500)
+			return
+		}
+	}
+	fmt.Println(r)
+	w.WriteHeader(404)
+}
diff --git a/remotes/docker/status.go b/remotes/docker/status.go
index 9751edac7..08768c297 100644
--- a/remotes/docker/status.go
+++ b/remotes/docker/status.go
@@ -31,6 +31,9 @@ type Status struct {
 
 	Committed bool
 
+	// ErrClosed contains error encountered on close.
+	ErrClosed error
+
 	// UploadUUID is used by the Docker registry to reference blob uploads
 	UploadUUID string
 }