diff --git a/providers/softlayer/src/main/java/org/jclouds/softlayer/domain/ContainerVirtualGuestConfiguration.java b/providers/softlayer/src/main/java/org/jclouds/softlayer/domain/ContainerVirtualGuestConfiguration.java
index 6834d311a7..09bb0de0c7 100644
--- a/providers/softlayer/src/main/java/org/jclouds/softlayer/domain/ContainerVirtualGuestConfiguration.java
+++ b/providers/softlayer/src/main/java/org/jclouds/softlayer/domain/ContainerVirtualGuestConfiguration.java
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ package org.jclouds.softlayer.domain;
 import com.google.common.base.Function;
 import com.google.common.base.Objects;
 import com.google.common.base.Predicate;
+import com.google.common.base.Predicates;
 import com.google.common.collect.FluentIterable;
 import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableSet;
 import com.google.common.collect.Iterables;
@@ -202,16 +203,21 @@ public class ContainerVirtualGuestConfiguration {
    }
 
    public Set<OperatingSystem> getVirtualGuestOperatingSystems() {
-      return Sets.newHashSet(Iterables.transform(operatingSystems,
-              new Function<ContainerVirtualGuestConfigurationOption, OperatingSystem>() {
+      return Sets.newHashSet(FluentIterable.from(operatingSystems)
+               .transform(new Function<ContainerVirtualGuestConfigurationOption, OperatingSystem>() {
          @Override
          public OperatingSystem apply(ContainerVirtualGuestConfigurationOption input) {
-            return OperatingSystem.builder()
-                    .id(input.getTemplate().getOperatingSystemReferenceCode())
-                    .operatingSystemReferenceCode(input.getTemplate().getOperatingSystemReferenceCode())
-                    .build();
+            String operatingSystemReferenceCode = input.getTemplate().getOperatingSystemReferenceCode();
+            if (operatingSystemReferenceCode == null) {
+               return null;
+            } else {
+               return OperatingSystem.builder()
+                       .id(operatingSystemReferenceCode)
+                       .operatingSystemReferenceCode(operatingSystemReferenceCode)
+                       .build();
+            }
          }
-      }));
+      }).filter(Predicates.notNull()));
    }
 
    public Set<VirtualGuestBlockDevice> getVirtualGuestBlockDevices() {
diff --git a/providers/softlayer/src/test/java/org/jclouds/softlayer/domain/ContainerVirtualGuestConfigurationTest.java b/providers/softlayer/src/test/java/org/jclouds/softlayer/domain/ContainerVirtualGuestConfigurationTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..5944465ae4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/providers/softlayer/src/test/java/org/jclouds/softlayer/domain/ContainerVirtualGuestConfigurationTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,75 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.jclouds.softlayer.domain;
+
+import static org.testng.Assert.assertEquals;
+
+import java.util.Set;
+
+import org.testng.annotations.Test;
+
+import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableSet;
+import com.google.common.collect.Iterables;
+
+@Test(groups = "unit")
+public class ContainerVirtualGuestConfigurationTest {
+   @Test
+   public void testGetVirtualGuestOperatingSystemsWithMissingReferenceCode() {
+      // Malformed response leading to failure:
+      // {
+      //    "itemPrice": {
+      //        "hourlyRecurringFee": ".131",
+      //        "item": {
+      //            "description": "Windows Server 2012 Datacenter Edition (64bit)"
+      //        },
+      //        "recurringFee": "90.63"
+      //    },
+      //    "template": {
+      //        "id": null
+      //        missing operatingSystemReferenceCode entry!
+      //    }
+      // },
+
+      ContainerVirtualGuestConfigurationOption osValid = ContainerVirtualGuestConfigurationOption.builder()
+            .productItemPrice(ProductItemPrice.builder()
+                    .hourlyRecurringFee(0)
+                    .recurringFee("0")
+                    .item(ProductItem.builder().description("CentOS - Latest").build())
+                    .build())
+            .template(VirtualGuest.builder().operatingSystemReferenceCode("CENTOS_LATEST").build())
+            .build();
+      ContainerVirtualGuestConfigurationOption osInvalid = ContainerVirtualGuestConfigurationOption.builder()
+            .productItemPrice(ProductItemPrice.builder()
+                    .hourlyRecurringFee(0.131f)
+                    .recurringFee("90.63")
+                    .item(ProductItem.builder().description("Windows Server 2012 Datacenter Edition (64bit)").build())
+                    .build())
+            .template(VirtualGuest.builder().build())
+            .build();
+      ContainerVirtualGuestConfiguration conf = ContainerVirtualGuestConfiguration.builder()
+         .blockDevices(ImmutableSet.<ContainerVirtualGuestConfigurationOption>of())
+         .datacenters(ImmutableSet.<ContainerVirtualGuestConfigurationOption>of())
+         .memory(ImmutableSet.<ContainerVirtualGuestConfigurationOption>of())
+         .networkComponents(ImmutableSet.<ContainerVirtualGuestConfigurationOption>of())
+         .operatingSystems(ImmutableSet.<ContainerVirtualGuestConfigurationOption>of(osValid, osInvalid))
+         .processors(ImmutableSet.<ContainerVirtualGuestConfigurationOption>of())
+         .build();
+      Set<OperatingSystem> virtualGuestOperatingSystems = conf.getVirtualGuestOperatingSystems();
+      OperatingSystem os = Iterables.getOnlyElement(virtualGuestOperatingSystems);
+      assertEquals(os.getOperatingSystemReferenceCode(), osValid.getTemplate().getOperatingSystemReferenceCode());
+   }
+}