diff --git a/etcdserver/server.go b/etcdserver/server.go
index d9731dbcc216..551636d72976 100644
--- a/etcdserver/server.go
+++ b/etcdserver/server.go
@@ -272,6 +272,10 @@ func NewServer(cfg *ServerConfig) (*EtcdServer, error) {
 			var err error
 			str, err = discovery.JoinCluster(cfg.DiscoveryURL, cfg.DiscoveryProxy, m.ID, cfg.InitialPeerURLsMap.String())
 			if err != nil {
+				// It removes member directory when NewServer returns error.
+				// This prevents conflicts with 'proxy' directory when
+				// the node falls back to proxy.
+				os.RemoveAll(cfg.MemberDir())
 				return nil, &DiscoveryError{Op: "join", Err: err}
 			}
 			urlsmap, err := types.NewURLsMap(str)