diff --git a/cmd/utils/fdlimit_freebsd.go b/cmd/utils/fdlimit_freebsd.go
index 4cb5013c84..b088bb2877 100644
--- a/cmd/utils/fdlimit_freebsd.go
+++ b/cmd/utils/fdlimit_freebsd.go
@@ -52,3 +52,11 @@ func getFdLimit() (int, error) {
 	}
 	return int(limit.Cur), nil
 }
+
+func getFdMaxLimit() (int, error) {
+	var limit syscall.Rlimit
+	if err := syscall.Getrlimit(syscall.RLIMIT_NOFILE, &limit); err != nil {
+		return 0, err
+	}
+	return int(limit.Max), nil
+}
diff --git a/cmd/utils/fdlimit_test.go b/cmd/utils/fdlimit_test.go
index f1bc33bc0c..d0b372f843 100644
--- a/cmd/utils/fdlimit_test.go
+++ b/cmd/utils/fdlimit_test.go
@@ -27,10 +27,11 @@ import (
 func TestFileDescriptorLimits(t *testing.T) {
 	target := 4096
 	var limit syscall.Rlimit
-	if err := syscall.Getrlimit(syscall.RLIMIT_NOFILE, &limit); err != nil {
+	hardlimit, err := getFdMaxLimit()
+	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatal(err)
 	}
-	if int(limit.Max) < target {
+	if hardlimit < target {
 		t.Skip(fmt.Sprintf("system limit is less than desired test target: %d < %d", limit.Max, target))
 	}
 
diff --git a/cmd/utils/fdlimit_unix.go b/cmd/utils/fdlimit_unix.go
index 08e153bbd4..d3142853dc 100644
--- a/cmd/utils/fdlimit_unix.go
+++ b/cmd/utils/fdlimit_unix.go
@@ -48,3 +48,11 @@ func getFdLimit() (int, error) {
 	}
 	return int(limit.Cur), nil
 }
+
+func getFdMaxLimit() (int, error) {
+	var limit syscall.Rlimit
+	if err := syscall.Getrlimit(syscall.RLIMIT_NOFILE, &limit); err != nil {
+		return 0, err
+	}
+	return int(limit.Max), nil
+}
diff --git a/cmd/utils/fdlimit_windows.go b/cmd/utils/fdlimit_windows.go
index 53aad3d7a5..71690a266e 100644
--- a/cmd/utils/fdlimit_windows.go
+++ b/cmd/utils/fdlimit_windows.go
@@ -39,3 +39,7 @@ func getFdLimit() (int, error) {
 	// Please see raiseFdLimit for the reason why we use hard coded 16K as the limit
 	return 16384, nil
 }
+
+func getFdMaxLimit() (int, error) {
+	return getFdLimit()
+}