diff --git a/libcontainer/cgroups/fs2/cpu.go b/libcontainer/cgroups/fs2/cpu.go
index 8ec855714f6..7129cf79c4d 100644
--- a/libcontainer/cgroups/fs2/cpu.go
+++ b/libcontainer/cgroups/fs2/cpu.go
@@ -13,7 +13,15 @@ import (
 	"github.com/opencontainers/runc/libcontainer/configs"
 )
 
+func isCpuSet(cgroup *configs.Cgroup) bool {
+	return cgroup.Resources.CpuWeight != 0 || cgroup.Resources.CpuMax != ""
+}
+
 func setCpu(dirPath string, cgroup *configs.Cgroup) error {
+	if !isCpuSet(cgroup) {
+		return nil
+	}
+
 	// NOTE: .CpuShares is not used here. Conversion is the caller's responsibility.
 	if cgroup.Resources.CpuWeight != 0 {
 		if err := fscommon.WriteFile(dirPath, "cpu.weight", strconv.FormatUint(cgroup.Resources.CpuWeight, 10)); err != nil {
diff --git a/libcontainer/cgroups/fs2/cpuset.go b/libcontainer/cgroups/fs2/cpuset.go
index 6492ac93c58..fb4456b43c1 100644
--- a/libcontainer/cgroups/fs2/cpuset.go
+++ b/libcontainer/cgroups/fs2/cpuset.go
@@ -7,7 +7,15 @@ import (
 	"github.com/opencontainers/runc/libcontainer/configs"
 )
 
+func isCpusetSet(cgroup *configs.Cgroup) bool {
+	return cgroup.Resources.CpusetCpus != "" || cgroup.Resources.CpusetMems != ""
+}
+
 func setCpuset(dirPath string, cgroup *configs.Cgroup) error {
+	if !isCpusetSet(cgroup) {
+		return nil
+	}
+
 	if cgroup.Resources.CpusetCpus != "" {
 		if err := fscommon.WriteFile(dirPath, "cpuset.cpus", cgroup.Resources.CpusetCpus); err != nil {
 			return err
diff --git a/libcontainer/cgroups/fs2/create.go b/libcontainer/cgroups/fs2/create.go
index 05407938d78..3da2c21a866 100644
--- a/libcontainer/cgroups/fs2/create.go
+++ b/libcontainer/cgroups/fs2/create.go
@@ -1,29 +1,71 @@
 package fs2
 
 import (
-	"bytes"
 	"fmt"
 	"io/ioutil"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
 	"strings"
+
+	"github.com/opencontainers/runc/libcontainer/configs"
 )
 
-// CreateCgroupPath creates cgroupv2 path, enabling all the
-// available controllers in the process.
-func CreateCgroupPath(path string) (Err error) {
-	if !strings.HasPrefix(path, UnifiedMountpoint) {
-		return fmt.Errorf("invalid cgroup path %s", path)
+func neededControllers(cgroup *configs.Cgroup) []string {
+	var list []string
+
+	if cgroup == nil {
+		return list
 	}
 
+	// list of all available controllers
 	const file = UnifiedMountpoint + "/cgroup.controllers"
 	content, err := ioutil.ReadFile(file)
 	if err != nil {
-		return err
+		return list
+	}
+	avail := make(map[string]struct{})
+	for ctr := range strings.Split(string(content), " ") {
+		avail[string(ctr)] = struct{}{}
 	}
 
-	ctrs := bytes.Fields(content)
-	res := append([]byte("+"), bytes.Join(ctrs, []byte(" +"))...)
+	// add the controller if available
+	add := func(controller string) {
+		if _, ok := avail[controller]; ok {
+			list = append(list, "+"+controller)
+		}
+	}
+
+	if isPidsSet(cgroup) {
+		add("pids")
+	}
+	if isMemorySet(cgroup) {
+		add("memory")
+	}
+	if isIoSet(cgroup) {
+		add("io")
+	}
+	if isCpuSet(cgroup) {
+		add("cpu")
+	}
+	if isCpusetSet(cgroup) {
+		add("cpuset")
+	}
+	if isHugeTlbSet(cgroup) {
+		add("hugetlb")
+	}
+
+	return list
+}
+
+// CreateCgroupPath creates cgroupv2 path, enabling all the
+// needed controllers in the process.
+func CreateCgroupPath(path string, c *configs.Cgroup) (Err error) {
+	if !strings.HasPrefix(path, UnifiedMountpoint) {
+		return fmt.Errorf("invalid cgroup path %s", path)
+	}
+
+	ctrs := neededControllers(c)
+	allCtrs := strings.Join(ctrs, " ")
 
 	elements := strings.Split(path, "/")
 	elements = elements[3:]
@@ -44,11 +86,18 @@ func CreateCgroupPath(path string) (Err error) {
 				}()
 			}
 		}
+		// enable needed controllers
 		if i < len(elements)-1 {
-			if err := ioutil.WriteFile(filepath.Join(current, "cgroup.subtree_control"), res, 0755); err != nil {
-				return err
+			file := filepath.Join(current, "cgroup.subtree_control")
+			if err := ioutil.WriteFile(file, []byte(allCtrs), 0755); err != nil {
+				// failed to enable all controllers at once, so let's try
+				// one by one, ignoring errors as there's nothing we can do
+				for _, ctr := range ctrs {
+					_ = ioutil.WriteFile(file, []byte(ctr), 0755)
+				}
 			}
 		}
 	}
+
 	return nil
 }
diff --git a/libcontainer/cgroups/fs2/fs2.go b/libcontainer/cgroups/fs2/fs2.go
index f32f647d805..d845a1b5ebe 100644
--- a/libcontainer/cgroups/fs2/fs2.go
+++ b/libcontainer/cgroups/fs2/fs2.go
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ func (m *manager) getControllers() error {
 }
 
 func (m *manager) Apply(pid int) error {
-	if err := CreateCgroupPath(m.dirPath); err != nil {
+	if err := CreateCgroupPath(m.dirPath, m.config); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
 	if err := cgroups.WriteCgroupProc(m.dirPath, pid); err != nil && !m.rootless {
diff --git a/libcontainer/cgroups/fs2/hugetlb.go b/libcontainer/cgroups/fs2/hugetlb.go
index c7610c0a414..4a399aaecd5 100644
--- a/libcontainer/cgroups/fs2/hugetlb.go
+++ b/libcontainer/cgroups/fs2/hugetlb.go
@@ -15,7 +15,14 @@ import (
 	"github.com/opencontainers/runc/libcontainer/configs"
 )
 
+func isHugeTlbSet(cgroup *configs.Cgroup) bool {
+	return len(cgroup.Resources.HugetlbLimit) > 0
+}
+
 func setHugeTlb(dirPath string, cgroup *configs.Cgroup) error {
+	if !isHugeTlbSet(cgroup) {
+		return nil
+	}
 	for _, hugetlb := range cgroup.Resources.HugetlbLimit {
 		if err := fscommon.WriteFile(dirPath, strings.Join([]string{"hugetlb", hugetlb.Pagesize, "max"}, "."), strconv.FormatUint(hugetlb.Limit, 10)); err != nil {
 			return err
diff --git a/libcontainer/cgroups/fs2/io.go b/libcontainer/cgroups/fs2/io.go
index 677c8d286cf..bbe3ac064b3 100644
--- a/libcontainer/cgroups/fs2/io.go
+++ b/libcontainer/cgroups/fs2/io.go
@@ -14,7 +14,19 @@ import (
 	"github.com/opencontainers/runc/libcontainer/configs"
 )
 
+func isIoSet(cgroup *configs.Cgroup) bool {
+	return cgroup.Resources.BlkioWeight != 0 ||
+		len(cgroup.Resources.BlkioThrottleReadBpsDevice) > 0 ||
+		len(cgroup.Resources.BlkioThrottleWriteBpsDevice) > 0 ||
+		len(cgroup.Resources.BlkioThrottleReadIOPSDevice) > 0 ||
+		len(cgroup.Resources.BlkioThrottleWriteIOPSDevice) > 0
+}
+
 func setIo(dirPath string, cgroup *configs.Cgroup) error {
+	if !isIoSet(cgroup) {
+		return nil
+	}
+
 	if cgroup.Resources.BlkioWeight != 0 {
 		filename := "io.bfq.weight"
 		if err := fscommon.WriteFile(dirPath, filename,
diff --git a/libcontainer/cgroups/fs2/memory.go b/libcontainer/cgroups/fs2/memory.go
index 09a92d468b9..681bedd111e 100644
--- a/libcontainer/cgroups/fs2/memory.go
+++ b/libcontainer/cgroups/fs2/memory.go
@@ -32,7 +32,15 @@ func numToStr(value int64) (ret string) {
 	return ret
 }
 
+func isMemorySet(cgroup *configs.Cgroup) bool {
+	return cgroup.Resources.MemoryReservation != 0 ||
+		cgroup.Resources.Memory != 0 || cgroup.Resources.MemorySwap != 0
+}
+
 func setMemory(dirPath string, cgroup *configs.Cgroup) error {
+	if !isMemorySet(cgroup) {
+		return nil
+	}
 	swap, err := cgroups.ConvertMemorySwapToCgroupV2Value(cgroup.Resources.MemorySwap, cgroup.Resources.Memory)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
diff --git a/libcontainer/cgroups/fs2/pids.go b/libcontainer/cgroups/fs2/pids.go
index 0cf860f9c7c..b8153d28398 100644
--- a/libcontainer/cgroups/fs2/pids.go
+++ b/libcontainer/cgroups/fs2/pids.go
@@ -14,7 +14,14 @@ import (
 	"golang.org/x/sys/unix"
 )
 
+func isPidsSet(cgroup *configs.Cgroup) bool {
+	return cgroup.Resources.PidsLimit != 0
+}
+
 func setPids(dirPath string, cgroup *configs.Cgroup) error {
+	if !isPidsSet(cgroup) {
+		return nil
+	}
 	if val := numToStr(cgroup.Resources.PidsLimit); val != "" {
 		if err := fscommon.WriteFile(dirPath, "pids.max", val); err != nil {
 			return err
diff --git a/libcontainer/cgroups/systemd/v2.go b/libcontainer/cgroups/systemd/v2.go
index 6cb09044567..42b2782d538 100644
--- a/libcontainer/cgroups/systemd/v2.go
+++ b/libcontainer/cgroups/systemd/v2.go
@@ -151,7 +151,7 @@ func (m *unifiedManager) Apply(pid int) error {
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
-	if err := fs2.CreateCgroupPath(m.path); err != nil {
+	if err := fs2.CreateCgroupPath(m.path, m.cgroups); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
 	return nil