diff --git a/wal/repair.go b/wal/repair.go
index 1e668b5ef..43b98135f 100644
--- a/wal/repair.go
+++ b/wal/repair.go
@@ -90,14 +90,10 @@ func Repair(dirpath string) bool {
 
 // openLast opens the last wal file for read and write.
 func openLast(dirpath string) (*fileutil.LockedFile, error) {
-	names, err := fileutil.ReadDir(dirpath)
+	names, err := readWalNames(dirpath)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
-	names = checkWalNames(names)
-	if len(names) == 0 {
-		return nil, ErrFileNotFound
-	}
 	last := path.Join(dirpath, names[len(names)-1])
 	return fileutil.LockFile(last, os.O_RDWR, 0600)
 }
diff --git a/wal/util.go b/wal/util.go
index ee41cbd27..5c56e2288 100644
--- a/wal/util.go
+++ b/wal/util.go
@@ -67,12 +67,26 @@ func isValidSeq(names []string) bool {
 	}
 	return true
 }
+func readWalNames(dirpath string) ([]string, error) {
+	names, err := fileutil.ReadDir(dirpath)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	wnames := checkWalNames(names)
+	if len(wnames) == 0 {
+		return nil, ErrFileNotFound
+	}
+	return wnames, nil
+}
 
 func checkWalNames(names []string) []string {
 	wnames := make([]string, 0)
 	for _, name := range names {
 		if _, _, err := parseWalName(name); err != nil {
-			plog.Warningf("ignored file %v in wal", name)
+			// don't complain about left over tmp files
+			if !strings.HasSuffix(name, ".tmp") {
+				plog.Warningf("ignored file %v in wal", name)
+			}
 			continue
 		}
 		wnames = append(wnames, name)
diff --git a/wal/wal.go b/wal/wal.go
index 7e01a212c..4140633f2 100644
--- a/wal/wal.go
+++ b/wal/wal.go
@@ -156,14 +156,10 @@ func OpenForRead(dirpath string, snap walpb.Snapshot) (*WAL, error) {
 }
 
 func openAtIndex(dirpath string, snap walpb.Snapshot, write bool) (*WAL, error) {
-	names, err := fileutil.ReadDir(dirpath)
+	names, err := readWalNames(dirpath)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
-	names = checkWalNames(names)
-	if len(names) == 0 {
-		return nil, ErrFileNotFound
-	}
 
 	nameIndex, ok := searchIndex(names, snap.Index)
 	if !ok || !isValidSeq(names[nameIndex:]) {