diff --git a/cmd/ctr/run_unix.go b/cmd/ctr/run_unix.go
index ca195a82c..a2a8574ae 100644
--- a/cmd/ctr/run_unix.go
+++ b/cmd/ctr/run_unix.go
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/containerd/containerd"
 	"github.com/containerd/containerd/cmd/ctr/commands"
 	specs "github.com/opencontainers/runtime-spec/specs-go"
+	"github.com/pkg/errors"
 	"github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
 	"github.com/urfave/cli"
 )
@@ -122,6 +123,9 @@ func newTask(ctx gocontext.Context, client *containerd.Client, container contain
 			io = containerd.StdioTerminal
 		}
 		if nullIO {
+			if tty {
+				return nil, errors.New("tty and null-io cannot be used together")
+			}
 			io = containerd.NullIO
 		}
 		return container.NewTask(ctx, io)
diff --git a/cmd/ctr/run_windows.go b/cmd/ctr/run_windows.go
index 2ad33e5bc..b50c8dbf4 100644
--- a/cmd/ctr/run_windows.go
+++ b/cmd/ctr/run_windows.go
@@ -124,6 +124,9 @@ func newTask(ctx gocontext.Context, client *containerd.Client, container contain
 		io = containerd.StdioTerminal
 	}
 	if nullIO {
+		if tty {
+			return nil, errors.New("tty and null-io cannot be used together")
+		}
 		io = containerd.NullIO
 	}
 	return container.NewTask(ctx, io)