diff --git a/server/src/com/cloud/vm/UserVmManagerImpl.java b/server/src/com/cloud/vm/UserVmManagerImpl.java
index e026191116a..c9df2f1f31a 100755
--- a/server/src/com/cloud/vm/UserVmManagerImpl.java
+++ b/server/src/com/cloud/vm/UserVmManagerImpl.java
@@ -2751,6 +2751,14 @@ public class UserVmManagerImpl implements UserVmManager, UserVmService, Manager
     @Override
     public boolean finalizeStart(VirtualMachineProfile<UserVmVO> profile, long hostId, Commands cmds, ReservationContext context) {
         UserVmVO vm = profile.getVirtualMachine();
+        
+        Answer[] answersToCmds = cmds.getAnswers();
+        if(answersToCmds == null){
+            if(s_logger.isDebugEnabled()){
+                s_logger.debug("Returning from finalizeStart() since there are no answers to read");
+            }
+            return true;
+        }
         Answer startAnswer = cmds.getAnswer(StartAnswer.class);
         String returnedIp = null;
         String originalIp = null;
diff --git a/server/src/com/cloud/vm/VirtualMachineManagerImpl.java b/server/src/com/cloud/vm/VirtualMachineManagerImpl.java
index a50739ff2e8..84bb3b5f516 100755
--- a/server/src/com/cloud/vm/VirtualMachineManagerImpl.java
+++ b/server/src/com/cloud/vm/VirtualMachineManagerImpl.java
@@ -692,6 +692,7 @@ public class VirtualMachineManagerImpl implements VirtualMachineManager, Listene
                 }
 
                 long destHostId = dest.getHost().getId();
+                vm.setPodId(dest.getPod().getId());
 
                 try {
                     if (!changeState(vm, Event.OperationRetry, destHostId, work, Step.Prepare)) {
@@ -715,7 +716,6 @@ public class VirtualMachineManagerImpl implements VirtualMachineManager, Listene
                     cmds.addCommand(new StartCommand(vmTO));
 
                     vmGuru.finalizeDeployment(cmds, vmProfile, dest, ctx);
-                    vm.setPodId(dest.getPod().getId());
 
                     work = _workDao.findById(work.getId());
                     if (work == null || work.getStep() != Step.Prepare) {