diff --git a/lib/ansible/module_utils/docker_common.py b/lib/ansible/module_utils/docker_common.py
index c989e0fca3..c324883863 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/module_utils/docker_common.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/module_utils/docker_common.py
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ try:
     from docker.tls import TLSConfig
     from docker.constants import DEFAULT_TIMEOUT_SECONDS, DEFAULT_DOCKER_API_VERSION
     from docker.utils.types import Ulimit, LogConfig
+    from docker import auth
 except ImportError, exc:
     HAS_DOCKER_ERROR = str(exc)
     HAS_DOCKER_PY = False
@@ -114,6 +115,7 @@ class DockerBaseClass(object):
         #     log_file = open('docker.log', 'a')
         #     if pretty_print:
         #         log_file.write(json.dumps(msg, sort_keys=True, indent=4, separators=(',', ': ')))
+        #         log_file.write(u'\n')
         #     else:
         #         log_file.write(msg + u'\n')
 
@@ -166,11 +168,11 @@ class AnsibleDockerClient(Client):
 
     def log(self, msg, pretty_print=False):
         pass
-
         # if self.debug:
         #     log_file = open('docker.log', 'a')
         #     if pretty_print:
         #         log_file.write(json.dumps(msg, sort_keys=True, indent=4, separators=(',', ': ')))
+        #         log_file.write(u'\n')
         #     else:
         #         log_file.write(msg + u'\n')
 
@@ -392,40 +394,70 @@ class AnsibleDockerClient(Client):
         if not name:
             return None
 
-        lookup = name
-        if tag:
-            lookup = "%s:%s" % (name, tag)
-
-        self.log("Find image %s" % lookup)
-        try:
-            images = self.images(name=lookup)
-        except Exception, exc:
-            self.fail("Error getting image: %s" % str(exc))
+        self.log("Find image %s:%s" % (name, tag))
+        images = self._image_lookup(name, tag)
+        if len(images) == 0:
+            # In API <= 1.20 seeing 'docker.io/<name>' as the name of images pulled from docker hub
+            registry, repo_name = auth.resolve_repository_name(name) 
+            if registry == 'docker.io':
+                # the name does not contain a registry, so let's see if docker.io works 
+                lookup = "docker.io/%s" % name
+                self.log("Check for docker.io image: %s" % lookup)
+                images = self._image_lookup(lookup, tag)
 
         if len(images) > 1:
-            self.fail("Registry returned more than one result for %s" % lookup)
+            self.fail("Registry returned more than one result for %s:%s" % (name, tag))
 
         if len(images) == 1:
             try:
                 inspection = self.inspect_image(images[0]['Id'])
             except Exception, exc:
-                self.fail("Error inspecting image %s - %s" % (lookup, str(exc)))
-            inspection['Name'] = lookup
+                self.fail("Error inspecting image %s:%s - %s" % (name, tag, str(exc)))
             return inspection
-        self.log("Image %s not found." % lookup)
+
+        self.log("Image %s:%s not found." % (name, tag))
         return None
 
+    def _image_lookup(self, name, tag): 
+        '''
+        Including a tag in the name parameter sent to the docker-py images method does not 
+        work consistently. Instead, get the result set for name and manually check if the tag
+        exists.
+        '''
+        try:
+            response = self.images(name=name)
+        except Exception as exc:
+            self.fail("Error searching for image %s - %s" % (name, str(exc)))
+        images = response
+        if tag: 
+            lookup = "%s:%s" % (name, tag)
+            for image in response:
+                self.log(image, pretty_print=True)
+                if image.get('RepoTags') and lookup in image.get('RepoTags'):
+                    images = [image]
+                    break
+        return images
+
     def pull_image(self, name, tag="latest"):
         '''
         Pull an image
         '''
+        self.log("Pulling image %s:%s" % (name, tag))
         try:
-            self.log("Pulling image %s:%s" % (name, tag))
             for line in self.pull(name, tag=tag, stream=True):
-                response = json.loads(line)
-                self.log(response, pretty_print=True)
-            return self.find_image(name, tag)
+                line = json.loads(line)
+                self.log(line, pretty_print=True)
+                if line.get('error'):
+                    if line.get('errorDetail'):
+                        error_detail = line.get('errorDetail')
+                        self.fail("Error pulling %s - code: %s message: %s" % (name,
+                                                                               error_detail.get('code'),
+                                                                               error_detail.get('message')))
+                    else:
+                        self.fail("Error pulling %s - %s" % (name, line.get('error')))
         except Exception, exc:
             self.fail("Error pulling image %s:%s - %s" % (name, tag, str(exc)))
 
+        return self.find_image(name, tag)
+