diff --git a/core/container/dockercontroller/dockercontroller.go b/core/container/dockercontroller/dockercontroller.go
index 9e7df67746c..2394b7e223b 100644
--- a/core/container/dockercontroller/dockercontroller.go
+++ b/core/container/dockercontroller/dockercontroller.go
@@ -432,16 +432,12 @@ func (vm *DockerVM) Destroy(ctxt context.Context, ccid ccintf.CCID, force bool,
 func (vm *DockerVM) GetVMName(ccid ccintf.CCID, format func(string) (string, error)) (string, error) {
 	name := ccid.GetName()
 
-	// replace any invalid characters with "-"
 	if ccid.NetworkID != "" && ccid.PeerID != "" {
-		name = vmRegExp.ReplaceAllString(
-			fmt.Sprintf("%s-%s-%s", ccid.NetworkID, ccid.PeerID, name), "-")
+		name = fmt.Sprintf("%s-%s-%s", ccid.NetworkID, ccid.PeerID, name)
 	} else if ccid.NetworkID != "" {
-		name = vmRegExp.ReplaceAllString(
-			fmt.Sprintf("%s-%s", ccid.NetworkID, name), "-")
+		name = fmt.Sprintf("%s-%s", ccid.NetworkID, name)
 	} else if ccid.PeerID != "" {
-		name = vmRegExp.ReplaceAllString(
-			fmt.Sprintf("%s-%s", ccid.PeerID, name), "-")
+		name = fmt.Sprintf("%s-%s", ccid.PeerID, name)
 	}
 
 	if format != nil {
@@ -449,9 +445,13 @@ func (vm *DockerVM) GetVMName(ccid ccintf.CCID, format func(string) (string, err
 		if err != nil {
 			return formattedName, err
 		}
-		// check to ensure format function didn't add any invalid characters
-		name = vmRegExp.ReplaceAllString(formattedName, "-")
+		name = formattedName
 	}
+
+	// replace any invalid characters with "-" (either in network id, peer id, or in the
+	// entire name returned by any format function)
+	name = vmRegExp.ReplaceAllString(name, "-")
+
 	return name, nil
 }
 
@@ -461,7 +461,9 @@ func (vm *DockerVM) GetVMName(ccid ccintf.CCID, format func(string) (string, err
 // supplied image name and then appends it to the lowercase image name to ensure
 // uniqueness.
 func formatImageName(name string) (string, error) {
-	imageName := strings.ToLower(fmt.Sprintf("%s-%s", name, hex.EncodeToString(util.ComputeSHA256([]byte(name)))))
+	hash := hex.EncodeToString(util.ComputeSHA256([]byte(name)))
+	name = vmRegExp.ReplaceAllString(name, "-")
+	imageName := strings.ToLower(fmt.Sprintf("%s-%s", name, hash))
 
 	// Check that name complies with Docker's repository naming rules
 	if !imageRegExp.MatchString(imageName) {
diff --git a/core/container/dockercontroller/dockercontroller_test.go b/core/container/dockercontroller/dockercontroller_test.go
index ddbd47cf0cb..9aca26c3c04 100644
--- a/core/container/dockercontroller/dockercontroller_test.go
+++ b/core/container/dockercontroller/dockercontroller_test.go
@@ -241,9 +241,10 @@ func TestGetVMName(t *testing.T) {
 	tc = append(tc,
 		testCase{"mycc", ccintf.CCID{ChaincodeSpec: &pb.ChaincodeSpec{ChaincodeId: &pb.ChaincodeID{Name: "mycc"}}, NetworkID: "dev", PeerID: "peer0", Version: "1.0"}, formatImageName, fmt.Sprintf("%s-%s", "dev-peer0-mycc-1.0", hex.EncodeToString(util.ComputeSHA256([]byte("dev-peer0-mycc-1.0"))))},
 		testCase{"mycc-nonetworkid", ccintf.CCID{ChaincodeSpec: &pb.ChaincodeSpec{ChaincodeId: &pb.ChaincodeID{Name: "mycc"}}, PeerID: "peer1", Version: "1.0"}, formatImageName, fmt.Sprintf("%s-%s", "peer1-mycc-1.0", hex.EncodeToString(util.ComputeSHA256([]byte("peer1-mycc-1.0"))))},
-		testCase{"myCC", ccintf.CCID{ChaincodeSpec: &pb.ChaincodeSpec{ChaincodeId: &pb.ChaincodeID{Name: "myCC"}}, NetworkID: "Dev", PeerID: "Peer0", Version: "1.0"}, formatImageName, fmt.Sprintf("%s-%s", "dev-peer0-mycc-1.0", hex.EncodeToString(util.ComputeSHA256([]byte("Dev-Peer0-myCC-1.0"))))},
+		testCase{"myCC-UCids", ccintf.CCID{ChaincodeSpec: &pb.ChaincodeSpec{ChaincodeId: &pb.ChaincodeID{Name: "myCC"}}, NetworkID: "Dev", PeerID: "Peer0", Version: "1.0"}, formatImageName, fmt.Sprintf("%s-%s", "dev-peer0-mycc-1.0", hex.EncodeToString(util.ComputeSHA256([]byte("Dev-Peer0-myCC-1.0"))))},
+		testCase{"myCC-idsWithSpecialChars", ccintf.CCID{ChaincodeSpec: &pb.ChaincodeSpec{ChaincodeId: &pb.ChaincodeID{Name: "myCC"}}, NetworkID: "Dev$dev", PeerID: "Peer*0", Version: "1.0"}, formatImageName, fmt.Sprintf("%s-%s", "dev-dev-peer-0-mycc-1.0", hex.EncodeToString(util.ComputeSHA256([]byte("Dev$dev-Peer*0-myCC-1.0"))))},
 		testCase{"mycc-nopeerid", ccintf.CCID{ChaincodeSpec: &pb.ChaincodeSpec{ChaincodeId: &pb.ChaincodeID{Name: "mycc"}}, NetworkID: "dev", Version: "1.0"}, formatImageName, fmt.Sprintf("%s-%s", "dev-mycc-1.0", hex.EncodeToString(util.ComputeSHA256([]byte("dev-mycc-1.0"))))},
-		testCase{"myCC", ccintf.CCID{ChaincodeSpec: &pb.ChaincodeSpec{ChaincodeId: &pb.ChaincodeID{Name: "myCC"}}, NetworkID: "dev", PeerID: "peer0", Version: "1.0"}, formatImageName, fmt.Sprintf("%s-%s", "dev-peer0-mycc-1.0", hex.EncodeToString(util.ComputeSHA256([]byte("dev-peer0-myCC-1.0"))))},
+		testCase{"myCC-LCids", ccintf.CCID{ChaincodeSpec: &pb.ChaincodeSpec{ChaincodeId: &pb.ChaincodeID{Name: "myCC"}}, NetworkID: "dev", PeerID: "peer0", Version: "1.0"}, formatImageName, fmt.Sprintf("%s-%s", "dev-peer0-mycc-1.0", hex.EncodeToString(util.ComputeSHA256([]byte("dev-peer0-myCC-1.0"))))},
 		testCase{"myCC-preserveCase", ccintf.CCID{ChaincodeSpec: &pb.ChaincodeSpec{ChaincodeId: &pb.ChaincodeID{Name: "myCC"}}, NetworkID: "Dev", PeerID: "Peer0", Version: "1.0"}, nil, fmt.Sprintf("%s", "Dev-Peer0-myCC-1.0")},
 		testCase{"invalidCharsFormatFunction", ccintf.CCID{ChaincodeSpec: &pb.ChaincodeSpec{ChaincodeId: &pb.ChaincodeID{Name: "myCC"}}, NetworkID: "Dev", PeerID: "Peer0", Version: "1.0"}, formatInvalidChars, fmt.Sprintf("%s", "inv-lid-character--")})
 
@@ -255,10 +256,10 @@ func TestGetVMName(t *testing.T) {
 
 }
 
-func TestFormatImageName_invalidChars(t *testing.T) {
+/*func TestFormatImageName_invalidChars(t *testing.T) {
 	_, err := formatImageName("invalid*chars")
 	assert.NotNil(t, err, "Expected error")
-}
+}*/
 
 func getCodeChainBytesInMem() io.Reader {
 	startTime := time.Now()