diff --git a/cmd/bucket-notification-handlers.go b/cmd/bucket-notification-handlers.go
index c5c75bcdb..b4f1e7960 100644
--- a/cmd/bucket-notification-handlers.go
+++ b/cmd/bucket-notification-handlers.go
@@ -379,11 +379,13 @@ func AddBucketListenerConfig(bucket string, lcfg *listenerConfig, objAPI ObjectL
 	// Release lock after notifying peers
 	defer nsMutex.Unlock(bucket, "", opsID)
 
-	// update persistent config
-	err := persistListenerConfig(bucket, listenerCfgs, objAPI)
-	if err != nil {
-		errorIf(err, "Error persisting listener config when adding a listener.")
-		return err
+	// update persistent config if dist XL
+	if globalS3Peers.isDistXL {
+		err := persistListenerConfig(bucket, listenerCfgs, objAPI)
+		if err != nil {
+			errorIf(err, "Error persisting listener config when adding a listener.")
+			return err
+		}
 	}
 
 	// persistence success - now update in-memory globals on all
@@ -419,11 +421,13 @@ func RemoveBucketListenerConfig(bucket string, lcfg *listenerConfig, objAPI Obje
 	// Release lock after notifying peers
 	defer nsMutex.Unlock(bucket, "", opsID)
 
-	// update persistent config
-	err := persistListenerConfig(bucket, updatedLcfgs, objAPI)
-	if err != nil {
-		errorIf(err, "Error persisting listener config when removing a listener.")
-		return
+	// update persistent config if dist XL
+	if globalS3Peers.isDistXL {
+		err := persistListenerConfig(bucket, updatedLcfgs, objAPI)
+		if err != nil {
+			errorIf(err, "Error persisting listener config when removing a listener.")
+			return
+		}
 	}
 
 	// persistence success - now update in-memory globals on all
diff --git a/cmd/event-notifier.go b/cmd/event-notifier.go
index f5594ab50..d648afd9b 100644
--- a/cmd/event-notifier.go
+++ b/cmd/event-notifier.go
@@ -347,6 +347,13 @@ func loadNotificationConfig(bucket string, objAPI ObjectLayer) (*notificationCon
 // loads notification config if any for a given bucket, returns
 // structured notification config.
 func loadListenerConfig(bucket string, objAPI ObjectLayer) ([]listenerConfig, error) {
+	// in single node mode, there are no peers, so in this case
+	// there is no configuration to load, as any previously
+	// connected listen clients have been disconnected
+	if !globalS3Peers.isDistXL {
+		return nil, nil
+	}
+
 	// Construct the notification config path.
 	listenerConfigPath := path.Join(bucketConfigPrefix, bucket, bucketListenerConfig)
 	objInfo, err := objAPI.GetObjectInfo(minioMetaBucket, listenerConfigPath)
diff --git a/cmd/event-notifier_test.go b/cmd/event-notifier_test.go
index be2beab45..e15561cf2 100644
--- a/cmd/event-notifier_test.go
+++ b/cmd/event-notifier_test.go
@@ -291,6 +291,11 @@ func TestInitEventNotifier(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatal("Unexpected error:", err)
 	}
 
+	// needed to load listener config from disk for testing (in
+	// single peer mode, the listener config is ingored, but here
+	// we want to test the loading from disk too.)
+	globalS3Peers.isDistXL = true
+
 	// test event notifier init
 	if err := initEventNotifier(obj); err != nil {
 		t.Fatal("Unexpected error:", err)
@@ -361,6 +366,11 @@ func TestListenBucketNotification(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("Test Setup error: %v", err)
 	}
 
+	// needed to load listener config from disk for testing (in
+	// single peer mode, the listener config is ingored, but here
+	// we want to test the loading from disk too.)
+	globalS3Peers.isDistXL = true
+
 	// Init event notifier
 	if err := initEventNotifier(obj); err != nil {
 		t.Fatal("Unexpected error:", err)
diff --git a/cmd/s3-peer-client.go b/cmd/s3-peer-client.go
index 46a4a64c4..002bab97f 100644
--- a/cmd/s3-peer-client.go
+++ b/cmd/s3-peer-client.go
@@ -32,6 +32,9 @@ type s3Peers struct {
 
 	mutex *sync.RWMutex
 
+	// Is single-node?
+	isDistXL bool
+
 	// Slice of all peer addresses (in `host:port` format).
 	peers []string
 }
@@ -53,6 +56,9 @@ func initGlobalS3Peers(eps []storageEndPoint) {
 
 	// Save new peers
 	globalS3Peers.peers = peers
+
+	// store if this is a distributed setup or not.
+	globalS3Peers.isDistXL = len(globalS3Peers.peers) > 1
 }
 
 func (s3p *s3Peers) GetPeers() []string {