diff --git a/pkg/minikube/bootstrapper/bsutil/binaries.go b/pkg/minikube/bootstrapper/bsutil/binaries.go
index 5535305f085f..993838e05937 100644
--- a/pkg/minikube/bootstrapper/bsutil/binaries.go
+++ b/pkg/minikube/bootstrapper/bsutil/binaries.go
@@ -41,6 +41,10 @@ import (
 func TransferCrictl(cfg config.KubernetesConfig, c command.Runner) error {
 	src, err := download.CrictlBinary(cfg.KubernetesVersion)
 	if err != nil {
+		if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "response code: 404") {
+			klog.Info("Failed to download crictl with matching version. Using whatever version is already on the image")
+			return nil
+		}
 		return errors.Wrapf(err, "downloading crictl")
 	}
 	dst := "/usr/bin/crictl"
diff --git a/pkg/minikube/cruntime/cri.go b/pkg/minikube/cruntime/cri.go
index ede023301bb3..a6d069ff40a8 100644
--- a/pkg/minikube/cruntime/cri.go
+++ b/pkg/minikube/cruntime/cri.go
@@ -58,11 +58,11 @@ func CrictlVersion(c CommandRunner) (*semver.Version, error) {
 	}
 	stdout := rr.Stdout.String()
 	reg := regexp.MustCompile(`crictl\s*version\s*(v\d*\.\d*.\d*)`)
-	subMatches := reg.FindSubmatch([]byte(stdout))
+	subMatches := reg.FindStringSubmatch(stdout)
 	if len(subMatches) < 2 {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to find the crictl version")
 	}
-	version, err := util.ParseKubernetesVersion(string(subMatches[1]))
+	version, err := util.ParseKubernetesVersion(subMatches[1])
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}