diff --git a/terraform/context.go b/terraform/context.go
index 6f62e01e75..2575155c01 100644
--- a/terraform/context.go
+++ b/terraform/context.go
@@ -712,6 +712,11 @@ func (c *Context) validateWalkFn(rws *[]string, res *[]error) depgraph.WalkFunc
 				return nil
 			}
 
+			// Don't validate orphans since they never have a config
+			if rn.Orphan {
+				return nil
+			}
+
 			log.Printf("[INFO] Validating resource: %s", rn.Resource.Id)
 			ws, es := rn.Resource.Provider.ValidateResource(
 				rn.Type, rn.Resource.Config)
diff --git a/terraform/context_test.go b/terraform/context_test.go
index 314bf340a1..c785ce39cc 100644
--- a/terraform/context_test.go
+++ b/terraform/context_test.go
@@ -8,9 +8,13 @@ import (
 )
 
 func TestContextValidate(t *testing.T) {
+	p := testProvider("aws")
 	config := testConfig(t, "validate-good")
 	c := testContext(t, &ContextOpts{
 		Config: config,
+		Providers: map[string]ResourceProviderFactory{
+			"aws": testProviderFuncFixed(p),
+		},
 	})
 
 	w, e := c.Validate()
@@ -23,9 +27,13 @@ func TestContextValidate(t *testing.T) {
 }
 
 func TestContextValidate_badVar(t *testing.T) {
+	p := testProvider("aws")
 	config := testConfig(t, "validate-bad-var")
 	c := testContext(t, &ContextOpts{
 		Config: config,
+		Providers: map[string]ResourceProviderFactory{
+			"aws": testProviderFuncFixed(p),
+		},
 	})
 
 	w, e := c.Validate()
@@ -37,6 +45,39 @@ func TestContextValidate_badVar(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestContextValidate_orphans(t *testing.T) {
+	p := testProvider("aws")
+	config := testConfig(t, "validate-good")
+	state := &State{
+		Resources: map[string]*ResourceState{
+			"aws_instance.web": &ResourceState{
+				ID:   "bar",
+				Type: "aws_instance",
+			},
+		},
+	}
+	c := testContext(t, &ContextOpts{
+		Config: config,
+		Providers: map[string]ResourceProviderFactory{
+			"aws": testProviderFuncFixed(p),
+		},
+		State: state,
+	})
+
+	p.ValidateResourceFn = func(
+		t string, c *ResourceConfig) ([]string, []error) {
+		return nil, c.CheckSet([]string{"foo"})
+	}
+
+	w, e := c.Validate()
+	if len(w) > 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("bad: %#v", w)
+	}
+	if len(e) > 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("bad: %#v", e)
+	}
+}
+
 func TestContextValidate_providerConfig_bad(t *testing.T) {
 	config := testConfig(t, "validate-bad-pc")
 	p := testProvider("aws")
diff --git a/terraform/resource_provider_mock.go b/terraform/resource_provider_mock.go
index caf50861e8..42faada7c2 100644
--- a/terraform/resource_provider_mock.go
+++ b/terraform/resource_provider_mock.go
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ type MockResourceProvider struct {
 	ValidateConfig               *ResourceConfig
 	ValidateReturnWarns          []string
 	ValidateReturnErrors         []error
+	ValidateResourceFn           func(string, *ResourceConfig) ([]string, []error)
 	ValidateResourceCalled       bool
 	ValidateResourceType         string
 	ValidateResourceConfig       *ResourceConfig
@@ -61,6 +62,11 @@ func (p *MockResourceProvider) ValidateResource(t string, c *ResourceConfig) ([]
 	p.ValidateResourceCalled = true
 	p.ValidateResourceType = t
 	p.ValidateResourceConfig = c
+
+	if p.ValidateResourceFn != nil {
+		return p.ValidateResourceFn(t, c)
+	}
+
 	return p.ValidateResourceReturnWarns, p.ValidateResourceReturnErrors
 }
 
diff --git a/terraform/test-fixtures/validate-good/main.tf b/terraform/test-fixtures/validate-good/main.tf
index ce56544419..f9aa393caf 100644
--- a/terraform/test-fixtures/validate-good/main.tf
+++ b/terraform/test-fixtures/validate-good/main.tf
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 resource "aws_instance" "foo" {
     num = "2"
+    foo = "bar"
 }
 
 resource "aws_instance" "bar" {