diff --git a/cmd/nvidia-container-runtime-hook/container_config.go b/cmd/nvidia-container-runtime-hook/container_config.go
index 20a3b09f..36278dc0 100644
--- a/cmd/nvidia-container-runtime-hook/container_config.go
+++ b/cmd/nvidia-container-runtime-hook/container_config.go
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ type nvidiaConfig struct {
 type containerConfig struct {
 	Pid    int
 	Rootfs string
-	Env    map[string]string
+	Image  image.CUDA
 	Nvidia *nvidiaConfig
 }
 
@@ -362,7 +362,7 @@ func getContainerConfig(hook HookConfig) (config containerConfig) {
 	return containerConfig{
 		Pid:    h.Pid,
 		Rootfs: s.Root.Path,
-		Env:    image,
+		Image:  image,
 		Nvidia: getNvidiaConfig(&hook, image, s.Mounts, privileged),
 	}
 }
diff --git a/cmd/nvidia-container-runtime-hook/main.go b/cmd/nvidia-container-runtime-hook/main.go
index 9e5d4346..99583aa5 100644
--- a/cmd/nvidia-container-runtime-hook/main.go
+++ b/cmd/nvidia-container-runtime-hook/main.go
@@ -78,10 +78,6 @@ func doPrestart() {
 	}
 	cli := hook.NvidiaContainerCLI
 
-	if !hook.NVIDIAContainerRuntimeHook.SkipModeDetection && info.ResolveAutoMode(&logInterceptor{}, hook.NVIDIAContainerRuntime.Mode) != "legacy" {
-		log.Panicln("invoking the NVIDIA Container Runtime Hook directly (e.g. specifying the docker --gpus flag) is not supported. Please use the NVIDIA Container Runtime (e.g. specify the --runtime=nvidia flag) instead.")
-	}
-
 	container := getContainerConfig(*hook)
 	nvidia := container.Nvidia
 	if nvidia == nil {
@@ -89,6 +85,10 @@ func doPrestart() {
 		return
 	}
 
+	if !hook.NVIDIAContainerRuntimeHook.SkipModeDetection && info.ResolveAutoMode(&logInterceptor{}, hook.NVIDIAContainerRuntime.Mode, container.Image) != "legacy" {
+		log.Panicln("invoking the NVIDIA Container Runtime Hook directly (e.g. specifying the docker --gpus flag) is not supported. Please use the NVIDIA Container Runtime (e.g. specify the --runtime=nvidia flag) instead.")
+	}
+
 	rootfs := getRootfsPath(container)
 
 	args := []string{getCLIPath(cli)}
diff --git a/internal/info/auto.go b/internal/info/auto.go
index b9a9a5d8..396d127b 100644
--- a/internal/info/auto.go
+++ b/internal/info/auto.go
@@ -17,7 +17,9 @@
 package info
 
 import (
+	"github.com/NVIDIA/nvidia-container-toolkit/internal/config/image"
 	"github.com/NVIDIA/nvidia-container-toolkit/internal/logger"
+	"github.com/container-orchestrated-devices/container-device-interface/pkg/cdi"
 	"gitlab.com/nvidia/cloud-native/go-nvlib/pkg/nvlib/info"
 )
 
@@ -32,17 +34,17 @@ type resolver struct {
 }
 
 // ResolveAutoMode determines the correct mode for the platform if set to "auto"
-func ResolveAutoMode(logger logger.Interface, mode string) (rmode string) {
+func ResolveAutoMode(logger logger.Interface, mode string, image image.CUDA) (rmode string) {
 	nvinfo := info.New()
 	r := resolver{
 		logger: logger,
 		info:   nvinfo,
 	}
-	return r.resolveMode(mode)
+	return r.resolveMode(mode, image)
 }
 
 // resolveMode determines the correct mode for the platform if set to "auto"
-func (r resolver) resolveMode(mode string) (rmode string) {
+func (r resolver) resolveMode(mode string, image image.CUDA) (rmode string) {
 	if mode != "auto" {
 		return mode
 	}
@@ -50,6 +52,10 @@ func (r resolver) resolveMode(mode string) (rmode string) {
 		r.logger.Infof("Auto-detected mode as '%v'", rmode)
 	}()
 
+	if onlyFullyQualifiedCDIDevices(image) {
+		return "cdi"
+	}
+
 	isTegra, reason := r.info.IsTegraSystem()
 	r.logger.Debugf("Is Tegra-based system? %v: %v", isTegra, reason)
 
@@ -62,3 +68,14 @@ func (r resolver) resolveMode(mode string) (rmode string) {
 
 	return "legacy"
 }
+
+func onlyFullyQualifiedCDIDevices(image image.CUDA) bool {
+	var hasCDIdevice bool
+	for _, device := range image.DevicesFromEnvvars("NVIDIA_VISIBLE_DEVICES").List() {
+		if !cdi.IsQualifiedName(device) {
+			return false
+		}
+		hasCDIdevice = true
+	}
+	return hasCDIdevice
+}
diff --git a/internal/runtime/runtime_factory.go b/internal/runtime/runtime_factory.go
index ed32585b..9832fd66 100644
--- a/internal/runtime/runtime_factory.go
+++ b/internal/runtime/runtime_factory.go
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ func newSpecModifier(logger logger.Interface, cfg *config.Config, ociSpec oci.Sp
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
-	mode := info.ResolveAutoMode(logger, cfg.NVIDIAContainerRuntimeConfig.Mode)
+	mode := info.ResolveAutoMode(logger, cfg.NVIDIAContainerRuntimeConfig.Mode, image)
 	modeModifier, err := newModeModifier(logger, mode, cfg, ociSpec, argv)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err