diff --git a/pkg/cmd/roachtest/acceptance.go b/pkg/cmd/roachtest/acceptance.go
index 37f2e2bed22e..10539eaf033c 100644
--- a/pkg/cmd/roachtest/acceptance.go
+++ b/pkg/cmd/roachtest/acceptance.go
@@ -46,7 +46,6 @@ func registerAcceptance(r *testRegistry) {
 		{name: "status-server", fn: runStatusServer},
 		{
 			name: "version-upgrade",
-			skip: "#43957",
 			fn:   runVersionUpgrade,
 			// This test doesn't like running on old versions because it upgrades to
 			// the latest released version and then it tries to "head", where head is
diff --git a/pkg/server/server.go b/pkg/server/server.go
index 14f26874f0ec..a651df723c0f 100644
--- a/pkg/server/server.go
+++ b/pkg/server/server.go
@@ -1599,10 +1599,23 @@ func (s *Server) Start(ctx context.Context) error {
 	if migrationManagerTestingKnobs := s.cfg.TestingKnobs.SQLMigrationManager; migrationManagerTestingKnobs != nil {
 		mmKnobs = *migrationManagerTestingKnobs.(*sqlmigrations.MigrationManagerTestingKnobs)
 	}
+	migrationsExecutor := sql.MakeInternalExecutor(
+		ctx, s.pgServer.SQLServer, s.internalMemMetrics, s.ClusterSettings())
+	migrationsExecutor.SetSessionData(
+		&sessiondata.SessionData{
+			// Migrations need an executor with query distribution turned off. This is
+			// because the node crashes if migrations fail to execute, and query
+			// distribution introduces more moving parts. Local execution is more
+			// robust; for example, the DistSender has retries if it can't connect to
+			// another node, but DistSQL doesn't. Also see #44101 for why DistSQL is
+			// particularly fragile immediately after a node is started (i.e. the
+			// present situation).
+			DistSQLMode: sessiondata.DistSQLOff,
+		})
 	migMgr := sqlmigrations.NewManager(
 		s.stopper,
 		s.db,
-		s.internalExecutor,
+		&migrationsExecutor,
 		s.clock,
 		mmKnobs,
 		s.NodeID().String(),
diff --git a/pkg/sql/logictest/testdata/logic_test/event_log b/pkg/sql/logictest/testdata/logic_test/event_log
index 5cffcdc6977b..77310a98ddcf 100644
--- a/pkg/sql/logictest/testdata/logic_test/event_log
+++ b/pkg/sql/logictest/testdata/logic_test/event_log
@@ -365,7 +365,7 @@ AND info NOT LIKE '%sql.stats.automatic_collection.enabled%'
 AND info NOT LIKE '%sql.defaults.vectorize%'
 ORDER BY "timestamp"
 ----
-0  1  {"SettingName":"diagnostics.reporting.enabled","Value":"true","User":"root"}
+0  1  {"SettingName":"diagnostics.reporting.enabled","Value":"true","User":"node"}
 0  1  {"SettingName":"kv.range_merge.queue_enabled","Value":"false","User":"root"}
 0  1  {"SettingName":"sql.stats.automatic_collection.min_stale_rows","Value":"5","User":"root"}
 0  1  {"SettingName":"kv.allocator.load_based_lease_rebalancing.enabled","Value":"false","User":"root"}
diff --git a/pkg/sqlmigrations/migrations.go b/pkg/sqlmigrations/migrations.go
index 48e7ab4128e4..96259efed98d 100644
--- a/pkg/sqlmigrations/migrations.go
+++ b/pkg/sqlmigrations/migrations.go
@@ -239,14 +239,14 @@ var backwardCompatibleMigrations = []migrationDescriptor{
 		includedInBootstrap: cluster.VersionByKey(cluster.Version19_2),
 		workFn: func(ctx context.Context, r runner) error {
 			// Note that these particular schema changes are idempotent.
-			if _, err := r.sqlExecutor.ExecWithUser(ctx, "update-reports-meta-generated", nil, /* txn */
-				security.NodeUser,
+			if _, err := r.sqlExecutor.ExecEx(ctx, "update-reports-meta-generated", nil, /* txn */
+				sqlbase.InternalExecutorSessionDataOverride{User: security.NodeUser},
 				`ALTER TABLE system.reports_meta ALTER generated TYPE TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE`,
 			); err != nil {
 				return err
 			}
-			if _, err := r.sqlExecutor.ExecWithUser(ctx, "update-reports-meta-generated", nil, /* txn */
-				security.NodeUser,
+			if _, err := r.sqlExecutor.ExecEx(ctx, "update-reports-meta-generated", nil, /* txn */
+				sqlbase.InternalExecutorSessionDataOverride{User: security.NodeUser},
 				"ALTER TABLE system.replication_constraint_stats ALTER violation_start "+
 					"TYPE TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE",
 			); err != nil {
@@ -769,7 +769,12 @@ func runStmtAsRootWithRetry(
 	// arbitrarily long time.
 	var err error
 	for retry := retry.Start(retry.Options{MaxRetries: 5}); retry.Next(); {
-		_, err := r.sqlExecutor.Exec(ctx, opName, nil /* txn */, stmt, qargs...)
+		_, err := r.sqlExecutor.ExecEx(ctx, opName, nil, /* txn */
+			sqlbase.InternalExecutorSessionDataOverride{
+				User:     security.RootUser,
+				Database: "system",
+			},
+			stmt, qargs...)
 		if err == nil {
 			break
 		}