diff --git a/test/kitchen/test/integration/common/rspec_datadog/spec_helper.rb b/test/kitchen/test/integration/common/rspec_datadog/spec_helper.rb
index d8dfbdfdd93e8..b45eb78aa4094 100644
--- a/test/kitchen/test/integration/common/rspec_datadog/spec_helper.rb
+++ b/test/kitchen/test/integration/common/rspec_datadog/spec_helper.rb
@@ -288,7 +288,6 @@ def windows_service_status(service)
   raise "windows_service_status is only for windows" unless os == :windows
   # Language-independent way of getting the service status
   res =  `powershell -command \"try { (get-service #{service} -ErrorAction Stop).Status } catch { write-host NOTINSTALLED }\"`
-  puts res
   return (res).upcase.strip
 end
 
diff --git a/test/kitchen/test/integration/win-agent-with-cws-option/rspec_datadog/win-agent-with-cws-option_spec.rb b/test/kitchen/test/integration/win-agent-with-cws-option/rspec_datadog/win-agent-with-cws-option_spec.rb
index 63871305a75fd..26ea800519b83 100644
--- a/test/kitchen/test/integration/win-agent-with-cws-option/rspec_datadog/win-agent-with-cws-option_spec.rb
+++ b/test/kitchen/test/integration/win-agent-with-cws-option/rspec_datadog/win-agent-with-cws-option_spec.rb
@@ -3,16 +3,8 @@
 
 
 shared_examples_for 'a Windows Agent with CWS driver disabled' do
-    # We retrieve the value defined in kitchen.yml because there is no simple way
-    # to set env variables on the target machine or via parameters in Kitchen/Busser
-    # See https://github.com/test-kitchen/test-kitchen/issues/662 for reference
-    let(:expect_cws_installed) {
-        parse_dna().fetch('dd-agent-rspec').fetch('cws_included')
-    }
-
-    it 'has the service disabled' do
-        
-        if expect_cws_installed
+    if expect_windows_cws?
+        it 'has the service disabled' do
             expect(is_windows_service_disabled("ddprocmon")).to be_truthy
         end 
     end
@@ -23,51 +15,50 @@
         expect(is_windows_service_installed("datadog-system-probe")).to be_truthy
     end
 
-    # We retrieve the value defined in kitchen.yml because there is no simple way
-    # to set env variables on the target machine or via parameters in Kitchen/Busser
-    # See https://github.com/test-kitchen/test-kitchen/issues/662 for reference
-
-    # the `let` has to be inside an it block.
-    let(:expect_cws_installed) {
-        parse_dna().fetch('dd-agent-rspec').fetch('cws_included')
-    }
-
-    it 'has properly installed driver files' do
-        if expect_cws_installed
+    if expect_windows_cws?
+        it 'has required services installed' do
             expect(is_windows_service_installed("datadog-security-agent")).to be_truthy
             expect(is_windows_service_installed("ddprocmon")).to be_truthy
-
+        end
+        it 'has driver files' do
             program_files = safe_program_files
             expect(File).to exist("#{program_files}\\DataDog\\Datadog Agent\\bin\\agent\\ddprocmon.cat")
             expect(File).to exist("#{program_files}\\DataDog\\Datadog Agent\\bin\\agent\\ddprocmon.sys")
             expect(File).to exist("#{program_files}\\DataDog\\Datadog Agent\\bin\\agent\\ddprocmon.inf")
-        else
+        end
+
+        it 'does not have the driver running on install' do
+            ## verify that the driver is not started yet
+            expect(is_service_running?("ddprocmon")).to be_falsey
+        end
+    else
+        ## if windows CWS is not expected, do the reverse check (that services aren't installed, files
+        ## not present, etc.)  Once CWS is released, remove this part of the test.
+        it 'does not have cws services installed' do
             expect(is_windows_service_installed("datadog-security-agent")).to be_falsey
             expect(is_windows_service_installed("ddprocmon")).to be_falsey
-
+        end
+        it 'does not have driver files' do
             program_files = safe_program_files
             expect(File).not_to exist("#{program_files}\\DataDog\\Datadog Agent\\bin\\agent\\ddprocmon.cat")
             expect(File).not_to exist("#{program_files}\\DataDog\\Datadog Agent\\bin\\agent\\ddprocmon.sys")
             expect(File).not_to exist("#{program_files}\\DataDog\\Datadog Agent\\bin\\agent\\ddprocmon.inf")
-
         end
     end
-    it 'does not have the driver running on install' do
-        ## verify that the driver is not started yet
-        expect(is_service_running?("ddprocmon")).to be_falsey
-    end
+    
+    
 
 end
   
 shared_examples_for 'a Windows Agent with CWS running' do
-    # We retrieve the value defined in kitchen.yml because there is no simple way
-    # to set env variables on the target machine or via parameters in Kitchen/Busser
-    # See https://github.com/test-kitchen/test-kitchen/issues/662 for reference
-    let(:expect_cws_installed) {
-        parse_dna().fetch('dd-agent-rspec').fetch('cws_included')
-    }
-    it 'can start security agent' do
-        if expect_cws_installed
+    if expect_windows_cws?
+        it 'has cws services not started by default' do
+            expect(is_service_running?("datadog-system-probe")).to be_falsey
+            expect(is_service_running?("datadog-security-agent")).to be_falsey
+        end
+
+        it 'can start security agent' do
+
             sa_conf_path = ""
             sp_conf_path = ""
             if os != :windows
@@ -102,8 +93,6 @@
             spconfYaml["runtime_security_config"]["enabled"] = true
             File.write(sp_conf_path, spconfYaml.to_yaml)
         
-            expect(is_service_running?("datadog-system-probe")).to be_falsey
-            expect(is_service_running?("datadog-security-agent")).to be_falsey
             stop "datadog-agent"
             
             start "datadog-agent"
@@ -111,15 +100,22 @@
             expect(is_service_running?("datadogagent")).to be_truthy
             expect(is_service_running?("datadog-system-probe")).to be_truthy
             expect(is_service_running?("datadog-security-agent")).to be_truthy
-
-
+        end
+        it 'can gracefully shut down security agent' do
             stop "datadog-agent"
             
+            ## these tests return false for any state other than running.  So "shutting down"
+            ## will erroneously pass here
             expect(is_service_running?("datadogagent")).to be_falsey
             expect(is_service_running?("datadog-system-probe")).to be_falsey
             expect(is_service_running?("datadog-security-agent")).to be_falsey
+
+            ## so also check that the process is actually gone
+            expect(security_agent_running?).to be_falsey
+            expect(system_probe_running?).to be_falsey
+
         end
-    end
+    end  ## endif expect CWS, no tests at all if not expected.
 end