diff --git a/.docker/test_all.sh b/.docker/test_all.sh
index 189ccdd..ac80fb5 100755
--- a/.docker/test_all.sh
+++ b/.docker/test_all.sh
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ PREFIX="libreant-inst-test__"
 
 
 function cleanup {
-	for os in ${OSES[@]}; do
+    for os in ${OSES[@]}; do
         docker rm -f ${OSES[@]/#/"$PREFIX"} > /dev/null 2>&1 || true
     done
 }
@@ -38,6 +38,22 @@ function test_libreant_search {
     curl -fs "localhost:5000/search?q=*:*"  > /dev/null
 }
 
+function check_detatched_container {
+    c_name=$1
+    running=`docker container inspect $c_name --format={{.State.Running}}`
+    if [ "$running" == "false" ]; then
+        echo -e "\nERROR: container '$c_name' is not running." 1>&2
+        echo "Container state: " 1>&2
+        docker container inspect $c_name --format="  Status:   {{.State.Status}}" 1>&2
+        docker container inspect $c_name --format="  ExitCode: {{.State.ExitCode}}" 1>&2
+        echo "Container last log line:" 1>&2
+        docker logs --tail=10 $c_name
+        return 1
+    fi
+    return 0
+}
+
+
 # this implements a linear backoff
 # it will wait 1, then 2, then... $CURL_RETRIES seconds
 function with_backoff {
@@ -59,16 +75,16 @@ function with_backoff {
 
     # check before sleeping
     (( attempt <= max_attempts )) || break
-   	printf ". "
+    printf ". "
     sleep $attempt
     attempt=$(( attempt + 1 ))
   done
 
   if [[ $exitCode != 0 ]]
   then
-    echo "Failed too many times -- $*" 1>&2
+      echo "Failed too many times -- $*" 1>&2
   else
-	  printf "\n"
+      printf "\n"
   fi
 
   return $exitCode
@@ -82,7 +98,8 @@ i=1
 for os in "${OSES[@]}" ; do
     echo "Testing libreant installation on ${os}"
     docker build --file="${LIBREANT_SRC}/.docker/dockerfile-${os}" --tag="${PREFIX}${os}" "${LIBREANT_SRC}"
-    docker run --rm -p 5000:5000 -d --name "${PREFIX}${os}" "${PREFIX}${os}"
+    docker run -p 5000:5000 -d --name "${PREFIX}${os}" "${PREFIX}${os}"
+    check_detatched_container "${PREFIX}${os}" || exit 1
     if ! with_backoff test_libreant_homepage; then
         echo "Failed docker test $i/${#OSES[@]}: $os" >&2
         echo "at step 1 (home page)" >&2