diff --git a/cmd/minikube/cmd/root.go b/cmd/minikube/cmd/root.go
index c7009d1d5ff8..727f69e4fc5a 100644
--- a/cmd/minikube/cmd/root.go
+++ b/cmd/minikube/cmd/root.go
@@ -44,6 +44,10 @@ const (
 	showLibmachineLogs = "show-libmachine-logs"
 )
 
+var (
+	enableUpdateNotification = true
+)
+
 var viperWhiteList = []string{
 	"v",
 	"alsologtostderr",
@@ -62,12 +66,17 @@ var RootCmd = &cobra.Command{
 			}
 		}
 
-		log.SetDebug(viper.Get(showLibmachineLogs))
-		if !viper.GetBool(showLibmachineLogs) {
+		shouldShowLibmachineLogs := viper.GetBool(showLibmachineLogs)
+
+		log.SetDebug(shouldShowLibmachineLogs)
+		if !shouldShowLibmachineLogs {
 			log.SetOutWriter(ioutil.Discard)
 			log.SetErrWriter(ioutil.Discard)
 		}
-		notify.MaybePrintUpdateTextFromGithub(os.Stdout)
+
+		if enableUpdateNotification {
+			notify.MaybePrintUpdateTextFromGithub(os.Stdout)
+		}
 	},
 }
 
diff --git a/cmd/minikube/cmd/root_test.go b/cmd/minikube/cmd/root_test.go
index 80df35404775..ea9d612775d5 100644
--- a/cmd/minikube/cmd/root_test.go
+++ b/cmd/minikube/cmd/root_test.go
@@ -35,8 +35,6 @@ log_dir: "/etc/hosts"
 log-flush-frequency: "3s"
 `)
 
-const configName = ".test_minikube_config.yml"
-
 type configTest struct {
 	Name          string
 	EnvValue      string
diff --git a/cmd/minikube/cmd/version.go b/cmd/minikube/cmd/version.go
index 55db30b7a4c6..88894eda8b85 100644
--- a/cmd/minikube/cmd/version.go
+++ b/cmd/minikube/cmd/version.go
@@ -20,9 +20,7 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
-	"github.com/spf13/viper"
 
-	"k8s.io/minikube/pkg/minikube/config"
 	"k8s.io/minikube/pkg/version"
 )
 
@@ -32,7 +30,7 @@ var versionCmd = &cobra.Command{
 	Long:  `Print the version of minikube.`,
 	PersistentPreRun: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) {
 		// Explicitly disable update checking for the version command
-		viper.Set(config.WantUpdateNotification, "false")
+		enableUpdateNotification = false
 
 		RootCmd.PersistentPreRun(cmd, args)
 	},