diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index 6596057fc..70b4756db 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -96,6 +96,7 @@ require (
 	github.com/mitchellh/go-homedir v1.1.0
 	github.com/mitchellh/go-testing-interface v1.0.3 // indirect
 	github.com/mitchellh/go-vnc v0.0.0-20150629162542-723ed9867aed
+	github.com/mitchellh/gox v1.0.1 // indirect
 	github.com/mitchellh/iochan v1.0.0
 	github.com/mitchellh/mapstructure v1.2.3
 	github.com/mitchellh/panicwrap v0.0.0-20170106182340-fce601fe5557
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index a4452f1e7..e64fc9fbf 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -351,6 +351,7 @@ github.com/hashicorp/go-uuid v1.0.1 h1:fv1ep09latC32wFoVwnqcnKJGnMSdBanPczbHAYm1
 github.com/hashicorp/go-uuid v1.0.1/go.mod h1:6SBZvOh/SIDV7/2o3Jml5SYk/TvGqwFJ/bN7x4byOro=
 github.com/hashicorp/go-uuid v1.0.2 h1:cfejS+Tpcp13yd5nYHWDI6qVCny6wyX2Mt5SGur2IGE=
 github.com/hashicorp/go-uuid v1.0.2/go.mod h1:6SBZvOh/SIDV7/2o3Jml5SYk/TvGqwFJ/bN7x4byOro=
+github.com/hashicorp/go-version v1.0.0/go.mod h1:fltr4n8CU8Ke44wwGCBoEymUuxUHl09ZGVZPK5anwXA=
 github.com/hashicorp/go-version v1.1.0 h1:bPIoEKD27tNdebFGGxxYwcL4nepeY4j1QP23PFRGzg0=
 github.com/hashicorp/go-version v1.1.0/go.mod h1:fltr4n8CU8Ke44wwGCBoEymUuxUHl09ZGVZPK5anwXA=
 github.com/hashicorp/go-version v1.2.0 h1:3vNe/fWF5CBgRIguda1meWhsZHy3m8gCJ5wx+dIzX/E=
@@ -487,6 +488,8 @@ github.com/mitchellh/go-wordwrap v0.0.0-20150314170334-ad45545899c7/go.mod h1:ZX
 github.com/mitchellh/go-wordwrap v1.0.0 h1:6GlHJ/LTGMrIJbwgdqdl2eEH8o+Exx/0m8ir9Gns0u4=
 github.com/mitchellh/go-wordwrap v1.0.0/go.mod h1:ZXFpozHsX6DPmq2I0TCekCxypsnAUbP2oI0UX1GXzOo=
 github.com/mitchellh/gox v0.4.0/go.mod h1:Sd9lOJ0+aimLBi73mGofS1ycjY8lL3uZM3JPS42BGNg=
+github.com/mitchellh/gox v1.0.1 h1:x0jD3dcHk9a9xPSDN6YEL4xL6Qz0dvNYm8yZqui5chI=
+github.com/mitchellh/gox v1.0.1/go.mod h1:ED6BioOGXMswlXa2zxfh/xdd5QhwYliBFn9V18Ap4z4=
 github.com/mitchellh/iochan v1.0.0 h1:C+X3KsSTLFVBr/tK1eYN/vs4rJcvsiLU338UhYPJWeY=
 github.com/mitchellh/iochan v1.0.0/go.mod h1:JwYml1nuB7xOzsp52dPpHFffvOCDupsG0QubkSMEySY=
 github.com/mitchellh/mapstructure v0.0.0-20160808181253-ca63d7c062ee/go.mod h1:FVVH3fgwuzCH5S8UJGiWEs2h04kUh9fWfEaFds41c1Y=
diff --git a/main.go b/main.go
index 8d4c5ee38..6fb8c7c7b 100644
--- a/main.go
+++ b/main.go
@@ -196,6 +196,7 @@ func wrappedMain() int {
 			Reader:      os.Stdin,
 			Writer:      os.Stdout,
 			ErrorWriter: os.Stdout,
+			PB:          &packer.UiProgressBar{},
 		}
 		ui = basicUi
 		if !inPlugin {
@@ -207,8 +208,10 @@ func wrappedMain() int {
 			}
 			if backgrounded {
 				fmt.Fprint(os.Stderr, "Running in background, not using a TTY\n")
+				basicUi.PB = &packer.NoopProgressTracker{}
 			} else if TTY, err := openTTY(); err != nil {
 				fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "No tty available: %s\n", err)
+				basicUi.PB = &packer.NoopProgressTracker{}
 			} else {
 				basicUi.TTY = TTY
 				defer TTY.Close()
diff --git a/packer/progressbar.go b/packer/progressbar.go
index 3328ca9ce..fedc163a7 100644
--- a/packer/progressbar.go
+++ b/packer/progressbar.go
@@ -15,26 +15,28 @@ func ProgressBarConfig(bar *pb.ProgressBar, prefix string) {
 	bar.Prefix(prefix)
 }
 
-var defaultUiProgressBar = &uiProgressBar{}
+var defaultUiProgressBar = &UiProgressBar{}
 
-// uiProgressBar is a self managed progress bar singleton.
-// decorate your struct with a *uiProgressBar to
+// UiProgressBar is a self managed progress bar singleton.
+// decorate your struct with a *UiProgressBar to
 // give it TrackProgress capabilities.
-// In TrackProgress if uiProgressBar is nil
+// In TrackProgress if UiProgressBar is nil
 // defaultUiProgressBar will be used as
 // the progress bar.
-type uiProgressBar struct {
+type UiProgressBar struct {
+	Noop bool
 	lock sync.Mutex
-
 	pool *pb.Pool
-
-	pbs int
+	pbs  int
 }
 
-func (p *uiProgressBar) TrackProgress(src string, currentSize, totalSize int64, stream io.ReadCloser) io.ReadCloser {
+func (p *UiProgressBar) TrackProgress(src string, currentSize, totalSize int64, stream io.ReadCloser) io.ReadCloser {
 	if p == nil {
 		return defaultUiProgressBar.TrackProgress(src, currentSize, totalSize, stream)
 	}
+	if p.Noop {
+		return stream
+	}
 	p.lock.Lock()
 	defer p.lock.Unlock()
 
diff --git a/packer/progressbar_solaris.go b/packer/progressbar_solaris.go
index 75b40ad06..868037c38 100644
--- a/packer/progressbar_solaris.go
+++ b/packer/progressbar_solaris.go
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 package packer
 
-type uiProgressBar = NoopProgressTracker
+type UiProgressBar = NoopProgressTracker
diff --git a/packer/progressbar_test.go b/packer/progressbar_test.go
index 5039c48a9..40928d273 100644
--- a/packer/progressbar_test.go
+++ b/packer/progressbar_test.go
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ import (
 // The following tests rarelly just happen. So we run them 100 times.
 
 func TestProgressTracking_open_close(t *testing.T) {
-	var bar *uiProgressBar
+	var bar *UiProgressBar
 
 	tracker := bar.TrackProgress("1,", 1, 42, ioutil.NopCloser(nil))
 	tracker.Close()
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ func TestProgressTracking_open_close(t *testing.T) {
 }
 
 func TestProgressTracking_multi_open_close(t *testing.T) {
-	var bar *uiProgressBar
+	var bar *UiProgressBar
 	g := errgroup.Group{}
 
 	for i := 0; i < 100; i++ {
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ func TestProgressTracking_multi_open_close(t *testing.T) {
 }
 
 func TestProgressTracking_races(t *testing.T) {
-	var bar *uiProgressBar
+	var bar *UiProgressBar
 	g := errgroup.Group{}
 
 	for i := 0; i < 100; i++ {
diff --git a/packer/ui.go b/packer/ui.go
index 5d8cb89ed..46bfbf235 100644
--- a/packer/ui.go
+++ b/packer/ui.go
@@ -40,11 +40,12 @@ type Ui interface {
 	Message(string)
 	Error(string)
 	Machine(string, ...string)
+	// TrackProgress(src string, currentSize, totalSize int64, stream io.ReadCloser) (body io.ReadCloser)
 	getter.ProgressTracker
 }
 
 type NoopUi struct {
-	NoopProgressTracker
+	PB NoopProgressTracker
 }
 
 var _ Ui = new(NoopUi)
@@ -54,13 +55,16 @@ func (*NoopUi) Say(string)                 { return }
 func (*NoopUi) Message(string)             { return }
 func (*NoopUi) Error(string)               { return }
 func (*NoopUi) Machine(string, ...string)  { return }
+func (u *NoopUi) TrackProgress(src string, currentSize, totalSize int64, stream io.ReadCloser) io.ReadCloser {
+	return u.PB.TrackProgress(src, currentSize, totalSize, stream)
+}
 
 // ColoredUi is a UI that is colored using terminal colors.
 type ColoredUi struct {
 	Color      UiColor
 	ErrorColor UiColor
 	Ui         Ui
-	*uiProgressBar
+	PB         getter.ProgressTracker
 }
 
 var _ Ui = new(ColoredUi)
@@ -189,7 +193,7 @@ type BasicUi struct {
 	l           sync.Mutex
 	interrupted bool
 	TTY         TTY
-	*uiProgressBar
+	PB          getter.ProgressTracker
 }
 
 var _ Ui = new(BasicUi)
@@ -304,11 +308,15 @@ func (rw *BasicUi) Machine(t string, args ...string) {
 	log.Printf("machine readable: %s %#v", t, args)
 }
 
+func (rw *BasicUi) TrackProgress(src string, currentSize, totalSize int64, stream io.ReadCloser) (body io.ReadCloser) {
+	return rw.PB.TrackProgress(src, currentSize, totalSize, stream)
+}
+
 // MachineReadableUi is a UI that only outputs machine-readable output
 // to the given Writer.
 type MachineReadableUi struct {
 	Writer io.Writer
-	NoopProgressTracker
+	PB     NoopProgressTracker
 }
 
 var _ Ui = new(MachineReadableUi)
@@ -366,11 +374,15 @@ func (u *MachineReadableUi) Machine(category string, args ...string) {
 	log.Printf("%d,%s,%s,%s\n", now.Unix(), target, category, argsString)
 }
 
+func (u *MachineReadableUi) TrackProgress(src string, currentSize, totalSize int64, stream io.ReadCloser) (body io.ReadCloser) {
+	return u.PB.TrackProgress(src, currentSize, totalSize, stream)
+}
+
 // TimestampedUi is a UI that wraps another UI implementation and
 // prefixes each message with an RFC3339 timestamp
 type TimestampedUi struct {
 	Ui Ui
-	*uiProgressBar
+	PB getter.ProgressTracker
 }
 
 var _ Ui = new(TimestampedUi)
@@ -395,6 +407,10 @@ func (u *TimestampedUi) Machine(message string, args ...string) {
 	u.Ui.Machine(message, args...)
 }
 
+func (u *TimestampedUi) TrackProgress(src string, currentSize, totalSize int64, stream io.ReadCloser) (body io.ReadCloser) {
+	return u.Ui.TrackProgress(src, currentSize, totalSize, stream)
+}
+
 func (u *TimestampedUi) timestampLine(string string) string {
 	return fmt.Sprintf("%v: %v", time.Now().Format(time.RFC3339), string)
 }
@@ -404,7 +420,7 @@ func (u *TimestampedUi) timestampLine(string string) string {
 type SafeUi struct {
 	Sem chan int
 	Ui  Ui
-	*uiProgressBar
+	PB  getter.ProgressTracker
 }
 
 var _ Ui = new(SafeUi)
@@ -440,3 +456,11 @@ func (u *SafeUi) Machine(t string, args ...string) {
 	u.Ui.Machine(t, args...)
 	<-u.Sem
 }
+
+func (u *SafeUi) TrackProgress(src string, currentSize, totalSize int64, stream io.ReadCloser) (body io.ReadCloser) {
+	u.Sem <- 1
+	ret := u.Ui.TrackProgress(src, currentSize, totalSize, stream)
+	<-u.Sem
+
+	return ret
+}