diff --git a/pkg/config/config.go b/pkg/config/config.go
index 4ad791f3dcb..8c7ef2a8e6b 100644
--- a/pkg/config/config.go
+++ b/pkg/config/config.go
@@ -519,6 +519,10 @@ func (c *Config) UpdateFromFile(path string) error {
 // Returns errors encountered when reading or parsing the files, or nil
 // otherwise.
 func (c *Config) UpdateFromDropInFile(path string) error {
+	// keeps the storage options from storage.conf and merge it to crio config
+	var storageOpts []string
+	storageOpts = append(storageOpts, c.StorageOptions...)
+
 	data, err := ioutil.ReadFile(path)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
@@ -538,6 +542,10 @@ func (c *Config) UpdateFromDropInFile(path string) error {
 		delete(c.Runtimes, defaultRuntime)
 	}
 
+	storageOpts = append(storageOpts, t.Crio.RootConfig.StorageOptions...)
+	storageOpts = removeDupStorageOpts(storageOpts)
+	t.Crio.RootConfig.StorageOptions = storageOpts
+
 	// Registries are deprecated in cri-o.conf and turned into a NOP.
 	// Users should use registries.conf instead, so let's log it.
 	if len(t.Crio.Image.Registries) > 0 {
@@ -549,6 +557,24 @@ func (c *Config) UpdateFromDropInFile(path string) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
+// removeDupStorageOpts removes duplicated storage option from the list
+// keeps the last appearance
+func removeDupStorageOpts(storageOpts []string) []string {
+	var resOpts []string
+	opts := make(map[string]bool)
+	for i := len(storageOpts) - 1; i >= 0; i-- {
+		if ok := opts[storageOpts[i]]; ok {
+			continue
+		}
+		opts[storageOpts[i]] = true
+		resOpts = append(resOpts, storageOpts[i])
+	}
+	for i, j := 0, len(resOpts)-1; i < j; i, j = i+1, j-1 {
+		resOpts[i], resOpts[j] = resOpts[j], resOpts[i]
+	}
+	return resOpts
+}
+
 // UpdateFromPath recursively iterates the provided path and updates the
 // configuration for it
 func (c *Config) UpdateFromPath(path string) error {
diff --git a/pkg/config/config_test.go b/pkg/config/config_test.go
index 93aed25528c..3b533851cda 100644
--- a/pkg/config/config_test.go
+++ b/pkg/config/config_test.go
@@ -835,6 +835,37 @@ var _ = t.Describe("Config", func() {
 			Expect(sut.PidsLimit).To(BeEquivalentTo(2048))
 		})
 
+		It("should inherit storage_options from storage.conf and remove duplicates", func() {
+			f := t.MustTempFile("config")
+			// Given
+			Expect(ioutil.WriteFile(f,
+				[]byte(`
+					[crio]
+					storage_option = [
+						"foo=bar",
+					]`,
+				), 0),
+			).To(BeNil())
+			for _, tc := range []struct {
+				opts   []string
+				expect []string
+			}{
+				{[]string{"option1=v1", "option2=v2", "option3=v3"}, []string{"option1=v1", "option2=v2", "option3=v3", "foo=bar"}},
+				{[]string{"option1=v1", "option3=v3", "option2=v2", "option3=v3"}, []string{"option1=v1", "option2=v2", "option3=v3", "foo=bar"}},
+				{[]string{"option1=v1", "option2=v2", "option3=v3", "option1=v1"}, []string{"option2=v2", "option3=v3", "option1=v1", "foo=bar"}},
+				{[]string{"option1=v1", "option2=v2", "option3=v3", "option4=v4", "option3=v3", "option1=v1"}, []string{"option2=v2", "option4=v4", "option3=v3", "option1=v1", "foo=bar"}},
+			} {
+				// When
+				defaultcfg := defaultConfig()
+				defaultcfg.StorageOptions = tc.opts
+				err := defaultcfg.UpdateFromFile(f)
+
+				// Then
+				Expect(err).To(BeNil())
+				Expect(defaultcfg.RootConfig.StorageOptions).To(Equal(tc.expect))
+			}
+		})
+
 		It("should succeed with custom runtime", func() {
 			// Given
 			f := t.MustTempFile("config")