diff --git a/changelog/18615.txt b/changelog/18615.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..2aa4b32a4c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog/18615.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+```release-note:bug
+core: fix issue when attempting to re-bootstrap HA when using Raft as HA but not storage
+```
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/vault/external_tests/raftha/raft_ha_test.go b/vault/external_tests/raftha/raft_ha_test.go
index 3f8c57d535..bbeb78eb39 100644
--- a/vault/external_tests/raftha/raft_ha_test.go
+++ b/vault/external_tests/raftha/raft_ha_test.go
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ import (
 	vaulthttp "github.com/hashicorp/vault/http"
 	"github.com/hashicorp/vault/sdk/helper/logging"
 	"github.com/hashicorp/vault/vault"
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
 )
 
 func TestRaft_HA_NewCluster(t *testing.T) {
@@ -54,6 +55,20 @@ func TestRaft_HA_NewCluster(t *testing.T) {
 	})
 }
 
+// TestRaftHA_Recover_Cluster test that we can recover data and re-boostrap a cluster
+// that was created with raft HA enabled but is not using raft as the storage backend.
+func TestRaftHA_Recover_Cluster(t *testing.T) {
+	logger := logging.NewVaultLogger(hclog.Debug).Named(t.Name())
+	t.Run("file", func(t *testing.T) {
+		physBundle := teststorage.MakeFileBackend(t, logger)
+		testRaftHARecoverCluster(t, physBundle, logger)
+	})
+	t.Run("inmem", func(t *testing.T) {
+		physBundle := teststorage.MakeInmemBackend(t, logger)
+		testRaftHARecoverCluster(t, physBundle, logger)
+	})
+}
+
 func testRaftHANewCluster(t *testing.T, bundler teststorage.PhysicalBackendBundler, addClientCerts bool) {
 	var conf vault.CoreConfig
 	opts := vault.TestClusterOptions{HandlerFunc: vaulthttp.Handler}
@@ -117,6 +132,95 @@ func testRaftHANewCluster(t *testing.T, bundler teststorage.PhysicalBackendBundl
 	}
 }
 
+// testRaftHARecoverCluster : in this test, we're going to create a raft HA cluster and store a test secret in a KVv2
+// We're going to simulate an outage and destroy the cluster but we'll keep the storage backend.
+// We'll recreate a new cluster with the same storage backend and ensure that we can recover using
+// sys/storage/raft/bootstrap. We'll check that the new cluster
+// is functional and no data was lost: we can get the test secret from the KVv2.
+func testRaftHARecoverCluster(t *testing.T, physBundle *vault.PhysicalBackendBundle, logger hclog.Logger) {
+	opts := vault.TestClusterOptions{
+		HandlerFunc: vaulthttp.Handler,
+		// We're not testing the HA, only that it can be recovered. No need for multiple cores.
+		NumCores: 1,
+	}
+
+	haStorage, haCleanup := teststorage.MakeReusableRaftHAStorage(t, logger, opts.NumCores, physBundle)
+	defer haCleanup()
+	haStorage.Setup(nil, &opts)
+	cluster := vault.NewTestCluster(t, nil, &opts)
+
+	var (
+		clusterBarrierKeys [][]byte
+		clusterRootToken   string
+	)
+	clusterBarrierKeys = cluster.BarrierKeys
+	clusterRootToken = cluster.RootToken
+	leaderCore := cluster.Cores[0]
+	testhelpers.EnsureCoreUnsealed(t, cluster, leaderCore)
+
+	leaderClient := cluster.Cores[0].Client
+	leaderClient.SetToken(clusterRootToken)
+
+	// Mount a KVv2 backend to store a test data
+	err := leaderClient.Sys().Mount("kv", &api.MountInput{
+		Type: "kv-v2",
+	})
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	kvData := map[string]interface{}{
+		"data": map[string]interface{}{
+			"kittens": "awesome",
+		},
+	}
+
+	// Store the test data in the KVv2 backend
+	_, err = leaderClient.Logical().Write("kv/data/test_known_data", kvData)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	// We delete the current cluster. We keep the storage backend so we can recover the cluster
+	cluster.Cleanup()
+
+	// We now have a raft HA cluster with a KVv2 backend enabled and a test data.
+	// We're now going to delete the cluster and create a new raft HA cluster with the same backend storage
+	// and ensure we can recover to a working vault cluster and don't lose the data from the backend storage.
+
+	opts = vault.TestClusterOptions{
+		HandlerFunc: vaulthttp.Handler,
+		// We're not testing the HA, only that it can be recovered. No need for multiple cores.
+		NumCores: 1,
+		// It's already initialized as we keep the same storage backend.
+		SkipInit: true,
+	}
+	haStorage, haCleanup = teststorage.MakeReusableRaftHAStorage(t, logger, opts.NumCores, physBundle)
+	defer haCleanup()
+	haStorage.Setup(nil, &opts)
+	clusterRestored := vault.NewTestCluster(t, nil, &opts)
+
+	clusterRestored.BarrierKeys = clusterBarrierKeys
+	clusterRestored.RootToken = clusterRootToken
+	leaderCoreRestored := clusterRestored.Cores[0]
+
+	testhelpers.EnsureCoresUnsealed(t, clusterRestored)
+
+	leaderClientRestored := clusterRestored.Cores[0].Client
+
+	// We now reset the TLS keyring and bootstrap the cluster again.
+	_, err = leaderClientRestored.Logical().Write("sys/storage/raft/bootstrap", nil)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	vault.TestWaitActive(t, leaderCoreRestored.Core)
+	// Core should be active and cluster in a working state. We should be able to
+	// read the data from the KVv2 backend.
+	leaderClientRestored.SetToken(clusterRootToken)
+	secretRaw, err := leaderClientRestored.Logical().Read("kv/data/test_known_data")
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	data := secretRaw.Data["data"]
+	dataAsMap := data.(map[string]interface{})
+	require.NotNil(t, dataAsMap)
+	require.Equal(t, "awesome", dataAsMap["kittens"])
+}
+
 func TestRaft_HA_ExistingCluster(t *testing.T) {
 	t.Parallel()
 	conf := vault.CoreConfig{
diff --git a/vault/raft.go b/vault/raft.go
index 97ced8f089..7d34bef99c 100644
--- a/vault/raft.go
+++ b/vault/raft.go
@@ -751,7 +751,12 @@ func (c *Core) raftCreateTLSKeyring(ctx context.Context) (*raft.TLSKeyring, erro
 	}
 
 	if raftTLSEntry != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("TLS keyring already present")
+		// For Raft storage, the keyring should already be there, but
+		// for situations with non-Raft storage and Raft HA, we can ignore this,
+		// as it will need to be remade.
+		if _, usingRaftStorage := c.underlyingPhysical.(*raft.RaftBackend); usingRaftStorage {
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("TLS keyring already present")
+		}
 	}
 
 	raftTLS, err := raft.GenerateTLSKey(c.secureRandomReader)