diff --git a/include/haproxy/resolvers.h b/include/haproxy/resolvers.h
index 975f9d482..57b7a2852 100644
--- a/include/haproxy/resolvers.h
+++ b/include/haproxy/resolvers.h
@@ -61,5 +61,6 @@ int stats_dump_resolvers(struct conn_stream *cs,
 void resolv_stats_clear_counters(int clrall, struct list *stat_modules);
 int resolv_allocate_counters(struct list *stat_modules);
 int dns_dgram_init(struct dns_nameserver *ns, struct sockaddr_storage *sk);
+int resolvers_create_default();
 
 #endif // _HAPROXY_RESOLVER_H
diff --git a/src/http_client.c b/src/http_client.c
index 4de00bf0e..facdfed84 100644
--- a/src/http_client.c
+++ b/src/http_client.c
@@ -1074,6 +1074,9 @@ static int httpclient_resolve_init()
 	memprintf(&do_resolve, "do-resolve(txn.hc_ip,%s%s%s)", resolvers_id, resolvers_prefer ? "," : "", resolvers_prefer ? resolvers_prefer : "");
 	http_rules[1][0] = do_resolve;
 
+	/* Try to create the default resolvers section */
+	resolvers_create_default();
+
 	/* if the resolver does not exist and no hard_error was set, simply ignore resolving */
 	if (!find_resolvers_by_id(resolvers_id) && !hard_error_resolvers) {
 		free(do_resolve);
diff --git a/src/resolvers.c b/src/resolvers.c
index 4634b55f7..7cbddef31 100644
--- a/src/resolvers.c
+++ b/src/resolvers.c
@@ -3628,6 +3628,25 @@ out:
 	free(warnmsg);
 	return err_code;
 }
+
+/* try to create a "default" resolvers section which uses "/etc/resolv.conf"
+ *
+ * This function is opportunistic and does not try to display errors or warnings.
+ */
+int resolvers_create_default()
+{
+	int err_code = 0;
+
+	if (find_resolvers_by_id("default"))
+		return 0;
+
+	err_code |= resolvers_new(&curr_resolvers, "default", "<internal>", 0);
+	if (!(err_code & ERR_CODE))
+		err_code |= parse_resolve_conf(NULL, NULL);
+
+	return 0;
+}
+
 int cfg_post_parse_resolvers()
 {
 	int err_code = 0;
@@ -3658,3 +3677,4 @@ int cfg_post_parse_resolvers()
 REGISTER_CONFIG_SECTION("resolvers",      cfg_parse_resolvers, cfg_post_parse_resolvers);
 REGISTER_POST_DEINIT(resolvers_deinit);
 REGISTER_CONFIG_POSTPARSER("dns runtime resolver", resolvers_finalize_config);
+REGISTER_PRE_CHECK(resolvers_create_default);