diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 6a7abcfffd..70902067d3 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -28,5 +28,4 @@ before_install:
   - if test "$TRAVIS_OS_NAME" == "osx"; then brew update; brew install openssl; ln -s /usr/local/opt/openssl/lib/libcrypto.1.0.0.dylib /usr/local/lib/; ln -s /usr/local/opt/openssl/lib/libssl.1.0.0.dylib /usr/local/lib/; fi
 script:
   - ./build.sh
-#  Temporarily disabled systemd activation test: https://github.com/aspnet/KestrelHttpServer/issues/1912#issuecomment-311162419
-#  - if test "$TRAVIS_OS_NAME" != "osx"; then bash test/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Server.Kestrel.FunctionalTests/SystemdActivation/docker.sh; fi
+  - if test "$TRAVIS_OS_NAME" != "osx"; then bash test/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Server.Kestrel.FunctionalTests/SystemdActivation/docker.sh; fi
diff --git a/test/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Server.Kestrel.FunctionalTests/SystemdActivation/Dockerfile b/test/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Server.Kestrel.FunctionalTests/SystemdActivation/Dockerfile
index ac2b561610..59b592bd85 100644
--- a/test/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Server.Kestrel.FunctionalTests/SystemdActivation/Dockerfile
+++ b/test/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Server.Kestrel.FunctionalTests/SystemdActivation/Dockerfile
@@ -3,26 +3,34 @@ FROM microsoft/dotnet-nightly:2.0-runtime-deps
 # The "container" environment variable is read by systemd.
 ENV container=docker
 
-# This is required by systemd and won't work without "dotnet run --privileged".
-VOLUME ["/sys/fs/cgroup"]
+# Install and configure systemd which requires dbus for graceful shutdown.
+RUN ["apt-get", "-o", "Acquire::Check-Valid-Until=false", "update"]
+RUN ["apt-get", "install", "-y", "--no-install-recommends", "systemd-sysv"]
+
+# Set proper systemd default target.
+RUN ["systemctl", "set-default", "multi-user.target"]
+
+# Remove non-vital systemd services.
+RUN ["find", "/etc/systemd/system", "/lib/systemd/system", \
+    "-path", "*.wants/*", \
+    "-not", "-name", "*systemd-journald*", \
+    "-not", "-name", "*systemd-tmpfiles*", \
+    "-not", "-name", "*systemd-user-sessions*", \
+    "-delete"]
+
+# Copy .NET installation.
+ADD .dotnet/ /usr/share/dotnet/
+RUN ["ln", "-s", "/usr/share/dotnet/dotnet", "/usr/bin/dotnet"]
 
 # Create activate-kestrel.service to launch the "publish" app on new requests to 8080.
 EXPOSE 8080
-ADD .dotnet/ /usr/share/dotnet/
 ADD publish/ /publish/
-ADD activate-kestrel.socket /etc/systemd/system/activate-kestrel.socket
 ADD activate-kestrel.service /etc/systemd/system/activate-kestrel.service
+ADD activate-kestrel.socket /etc/systemd/system/activate-kestrel.socket
 
-# Install and configure systemd which requires dbus for graceful shutdown.
-RUN ["apt-get", "-o", "Acquire::Check-Valid-Until=false", "update"]
-RUN ["apt-get", "install", "-y", "dbus"]
-RUN ["systemctl", "mask", "getty.target", "console-getty.service"]
-RUN ["cp", "/lib/systemd/system/dbus.service", "/etc/systemd/system/"]
-RUN ["sed", "-i", "s/OOMScoreAdjust=-900//", "/etc/systemd/system/dbus.service"]
+# Automatically start activate-kestrel.socket on boot.
+RUN ["systemctl", "enable", "activate-kestrel.socket"]
 
-# Automatically start activate-kestrel.service on boot.
-RUN ["ln", "-s", "/usr/share/dotnet/dotnet", "/usr/bin/dotnet"]
-RUN ["ln", "-s", "/usr/lib/systemd/system/activate-kestrel.service", "/etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/activate-kestrel.service"]
-
-# Launch systemd.
-CMD ["/sbin/init"]
+# Launch systemd, with workaround for docker/docker#27202, technique based on comments from docker/docker#9212.
+CMD ["/bin/bash", "-c", "exec /sbin/init --log-target=journal 3>&1"]
+STOPSIGNAL SIGRTMIN+3
diff --git a/test/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Server.Kestrel.FunctionalTests/SystemdActivation/activate-kestrel.socket b/test/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Server.Kestrel.FunctionalTests/SystemdActivation/activate-kestrel.socket
index 1407c09f88..8b8e48e9c8 100644
--- a/test/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Server.Kestrel.FunctionalTests/SystemdActivation/activate-kestrel.socket
+++ b/test/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Server.Kestrel.FunctionalTests/SystemdActivation/activate-kestrel.socket
@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
 [Unit]
-Description=Kestrel Activation
+PartOf=activate-kestrel.service
 
 [Socket]
 ListenStream=8080
 NoDelay=true
 
+[Install]
+WantedBy=multi-user.target