diff --git a/python/mxnet/gluon/data/dataloader.py b/python/mxnet/gluon/data/dataloader.py
index 29b9b81aca04..eb1eb419cd02 100644
--- a/python/mxnet/gluon/data/dataloader.py
+++ b/python/mxnet/gluon/data/dataloader.py
@@ -151,6 +151,7 @@ def default_mp_batchify_fn(data):
 
 def worker_loop(dataset, key_queue, data_queue, batchify_fn):
     """Worker loop for multiprocessing DataLoader."""
+    dataset._fork()
     while True:
         idx, samples = key_queue.get()
         if idx is None:
diff --git a/python/mxnet/gluon/data/dataset.py b/python/mxnet/gluon/data/dataset.py
index bf5fa0a6d1e1..13e2b57a8c59 100644
--- a/python/mxnet/gluon/data/dataset.py
+++ b/python/mxnet/gluon/data/dataset.py
@@ -94,6 +94,11 @@ def base_fn(x, *args):
             return fn(x)
         return self.transform(base_fn, lazy)
 
+    def _fork(self):
+        """Protective operations required when launching multiprocess workers."""
+        # for non file descriptor related datasets, just skip
+        pass
+
 
 class SimpleDataset(Dataset):
     """Simple Dataset wrapper for lists and arrays.
@@ -173,8 +178,12 @@ class RecordFileDataset(Dataset):
         Path to rec file.
     """
     def __init__(self, filename):
-        idx_file = os.path.splitext(filename)[0] + '.idx'
-        self._record = recordio.MXIndexedRecordIO(idx_file, filename, 'r')
+        self.idx_file = os.path.splitext(filename)[0] + '.idx'
+        self.filename = filename
+        self._fork()
+
+    def _fork(self):
+        self._record = recordio.MXIndexedRecordIO(self.idx_file, self.filename, 'r')
 
     def __getitem__(self, idx):
         return self._record.read_idx(self._record.keys[idx])
diff --git a/tests/python/unittest/test_gluon_data.py b/tests/python/unittest/test_gluon_data.py
index ef2ba2ab9b28..043804487b5e 100644
--- a/tests/python/unittest/test_gluon_data.py
+++ b/tests/python/unittest/test_gluon_data.py
@@ -72,6 +72,18 @@ def test_recordimage_dataset():
         assert x.shape[0] == 1 and x.shape[3] == 3
         assert y.asscalar() == i
 
+@with_seed()
+def test_recordimage_dataset_with_data_loader_multiworker():
+    # This test is pointless on Windows because Windows doesn't fork
+    if platform.system() != 'Windows':
+        recfile = prepare_record()
+        dataset = gluon.data.vision.ImageRecordDataset(recfile)
+        loader = gluon.data.DataLoader(dataset, 1, num_workers=5)
+
+        for i, (x, y) in enumerate(loader):
+            assert x.shape[0] == 1 and x.shape[3] == 3
+            assert y.asscalar() == i
+
 @with_seed()
 def test_sampler():
     seq_sampler = gluon.data.SequentialSampler(10)
diff --git a/tests/python/unittest/test_io.py b/tests/python/unittest/test_io.py
index f0928a6b61a7..dbd327d429f7 100644
--- a/tests/python/unittest/test_io.py
+++ b/tests/python/unittest/test_io.py
@@ -407,7 +407,8 @@ def test_ImageRecordIter_seed_augmentation():
         mean_img="data/cifar/cifar10_mean.bin",
         shuffle=False,
         data_shape=(3, 28, 28),
-        batch_size=3)
+        batch_size=3,
+        seed_aug=seed_aug)
     batch = dataiter.next()
     data = batch.data[0].asnumpy().astype(np.uint8)