diff --git a/x-pack/elastic-agent/pkg/agent/application/handler_action_policy_change.go b/x-pack/elastic-agent/pkg/agent/application/handler_action_policy_change.go
index b921569a19b4..bb9297998e7b 100644
--- a/x-pack/elastic-agent/pkg/agent/application/handler_action_policy_change.go
+++ b/x-pack/elastic-agent/pkg/agent/application/handler_action_policy_change.go
@@ -62,6 +62,11 @@ func (h *handlerPolicyChange) Handle(ctx context.Context, a action, acker fleetA
 }
 
 func (h *handlerPolicyChange) handleKibanaHosts(c *config.Config) (err error) {
+	// do not update kibana host from policy; no setters provided with local Fleet Server
+	if len(h.setters) == 0 {
+		return nil
+	}
+
 	cfg, err := configuration.NewFromConfig(c)
 	if err != nil {
 		return errors.New(err, "could not parse the configuration from the policy", errors.TypeConfig)
diff --git a/x-pack/elastic-agent/pkg/agent/application/managed_mode.go b/x-pack/elastic-agent/pkg/agent/application/managed_mode.go
index c12c2451e3a8..242b556594c2 100644
--- a/x-pack/elastic-agent/pkg/agent/application/managed_mode.go
+++ b/x-pack/elastic-agent/pkg/agent/application/managed_mode.go
@@ -181,7 +181,10 @@ func newManaged(
 		agentInfo: agentInfo,
 		config:    cfg,
 		store:     store,
-		setters:   []clientSetter{acker},
+	}
+	if cfg.Fleet.Server == nil {
+		// setters only set when not running a local Fleet Server
+		policyChanger.setters = []clientSetter{acker}
 	}
 	actionDispatcher.MustRegister(
 		&fleetapi.ActionPolicyChange{},
diff --git a/x-pack/elastic-agent/pkg/agent/cmd/container.go b/x-pack/elastic-agent/pkg/agent/cmd/container.go
index 091d5cea9f4d..b35442df504a 100644
--- a/x-pack/elastic-agent/pkg/agent/cmd/container.go
+++ b/x-pack/elastic-agent/pkg/agent/cmd/container.go
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/elastic/beats/v7/libbeat/kibana"
 
+	"github.com/elastic/beats/v7/x-pack/elastic-agent/pkg/agent/application/info"
 	"github.com/elastic/beats/v7/x-pack/elastic-agent/pkg/agent/errors"
 	"github.com/elastic/beats/v7/x-pack/elastic-agent/pkg/cli"
 )
@@ -92,6 +93,10 @@ be used when the same credentials will be used across all the possible actions a
   KIBANA_HOST - kibana host [http://kibana:5601]
   KIBANA_USERNAME - kibana username [$ELASTICSEARCH_USERNAME]
   KIBANA_PASSWORD - kibana password [$ELASTICSEARCH_PASSWORD]
+
+By default when this command starts it will check for an existing fleet.yml. If that file already exists then
+all the above actions will be skipped, because the Elastic Agent has already been enrolled. To ensure that enrollment
+occurs on every start of the container set FLEET_FORCE to 1.
 `,
 		Run: func(c *cobra.Command, args []string) {
 			if err := containerCmd(streams, c, flags, args); err != nil {
@@ -109,6 +114,13 @@ func containerCmd(streams *cli.IOStreams, cmd *cobra.Command, flags *globalFlags
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
+
+	_, err = os.Stat(info.AgentConfigFile())
+	if !os.IsNotExist(err) && !envBool("FLEET_FORCE") {
+		// already enrolled, just run the standard run
+		return run(flags, streams)
+	}
+
 	// Remove FLEET_SETUP in 8.x
 	// The FLEET_SETUP environment variable boolean is a fallback to the old name. The name was updated to
 	// reflect that its setting up Fleet in Kibana versus setting up Fleet Server.