diff --git a/x-pack/test/monitoring_api_integration/apis/apm/index.ts b/x-pack/test/monitoring_api_integration/apis/apm/index.ts
index dbbae596a7b59..0171da7e6b83a 100644
--- a/x-pack/test/monitoring_api_integration/apis/apm/index.ts
+++ b/x-pack/test/monitoring_api_integration/apis/apm/index.ts
@@ -6,9 +6,12 @@
  */
 
 import { FtrProviderContext } from '../../../api_integration/ftr_provider_context';
+import { installPackage } from '../../packages';
 
-export default function ({ loadTestFile }: FtrProviderContext) {
+export default function ({ loadTestFile, getService }: FtrProviderContext) {
   describe('APM', () => {
+    before(() => installPackage(getService('supertest'), 'beat'));
+
     loadTestFile(require.resolve('./overview'));
     loadTestFile(require.resolve('./instances'));
   });
diff --git a/x-pack/test/monitoring_api_integration/apis/beats/index.ts b/x-pack/test/monitoring_api_integration/apis/beats/index.ts
index 01d2bc6a3c3d6..79d051835ec3a 100644
--- a/x-pack/test/monitoring_api_integration/apis/beats/index.ts
+++ b/x-pack/test/monitoring_api_integration/apis/beats/index.ts
@@ -6,9 +6,12 @@
  */
 
 import { FtrProviderContext } from '../../../api_integration/ftr_provider_context';
+import { installPackage } from '../../packages';
 
-export default function ({ loadTestFile }: FtrProviderContext) {
+export default function ({ loadTestFile, getService }: FtrProviderContext) {
   describe('Beats', () => {
+    before(() => installPackage(getService('supertest'), 'beat'));
+
     loadTestFile(require.resolve('./overview'));
     loadTestFile(require.resolve('./beats'));
     loadTestFile(require.resolve('./beat'));
diff --git a/x-pack/test/monitoring_api_integration/apis/elasticsearch/index.ts b/x-pack/test/monitoring_api_integration/apis/elasticsearch/index.ts
index 8b43525fb03e2..cfcb7bf5570aa 100644
--- a/x-pack/test/monitoring_api_integration/apis/elasticsearch/index.ts
+++ b/x-pack/test/monitoring_api_integration/apis/elasticsearch/index.ts
@@ -6,9 +6,12 @@
  */
 
 import { FtrProviderContext } from '../../../api_integration/ftr_provider_context';
+import { installPackage } from '../../packages';
 
-export default function ({ loadTestFile }: FtrProviderContext) {
+export default function ({ loadTestFile, getService }: FtrProviderContext) {
   describe('Elasticsearch', () => {
+    before(() => installPackage(getService('supertest'), 'elasticsearch'));
+
     loadTestFile(require.resolve('./ccr'));
     loadTestFile(require.resolve('./indices'));
     loadTestFile(require.resolve('./ml_jobs'));
diff --git a/x-pack/test/monitoring_api_integration/apis/enterprisesearch/index.ts b/x-pack/test/monitoring_api_integration/apis/enterprisesearch/index.ts
index 5942fde0fe95a..a7195e283232a 100644
--- a/x-pack/test/monitoring_api_integration/apis/enterprisesearch/index.ts
+++ b/x-pack/test/monitoring_api_integration/apis/enterprisesearch/index.ts
@@ -6,9 +6,12 @@
  */
 
 import { FtrProviderContext } from '../../../api_integration/ftr_provider_context';
+import { installPackage } from '../../packages';
 
-export default function ({ loadTestFile }: FtrProviderContext) {
+export default function ({ loadTestFile, getService }: FtrProviderContext) {
   describe('Enterprisesearch', () => {
+    before(() => installPackage(getService('supertest'), 'enterprisesearch'));
+
     loadTestFile(require.resolve('./overview'));
   });
 }
diff --git a/x-pack/test/monitoring_api_integration/apis/kibana/index.ts b/x-pack/test/monitoring_api_integration/apis/kibana/index.ts
index 24c5e6865021a..4409c5a871397 100644
--- a/x-pack/test/monitoring_api_integration/apis/kibana/index.ts
+++ b/x-pack/test/monitoring_api_integration/apis/kibana/index.ts
@@ -6,9 +6,12 @@
  */
 
 import { FtrProviderContext } from '../../../api_integration/ftr_provider_context';
+import { installPackage } from '../../packages';
 
-export default function ({ loadTestFile }: FtrProviderContext) {
+export default function ({ loadTestFile, getService }: FtrProviderContext) {
   describe('Kibana', () => {
+    before(() => installPackage(getService('supertest'), 'kibana'));
+
     loadTestFile(require.resolve('./overview'));
     loadTestFile(require.resolve('./instances'));
   });
diff --git a/x-pack/test/monitoring_api_integration/apis/logstash/index.ts b/x-pack/test/monitoring_api_integration/apis/logstash/index.ts
index 88a5980273ef5..bcde9e2cc5f31 100644
--- a/x-pack/test/monitoring_api_integration/apis/logstash/index.ts
+++ b/x-pack/test/monitoring_api_integration/apis/logstash/index.ts
@@ -6,9 +6,12 @@
  */
 
 import { FtrProviderContext } from '../../../api_integration/ftr_provider_context';
+import { installPackage } from '../../packages';
 
-export default function ({ loadTestFile }: FtrProviderContext) {
+export default function ({ loadTestFile, getService }: FtrProviderContext) {
   describe('Logstash', () => {
+    before(() => installPackage(getService('supertest'), 'logstash'));
+
     loadTestFile(require.resolve('./overview'));
     loadTestFile(require.resolve('./nodes'));
     loadTestFile(require.resolve('./pipelines'));
diff --git a/x-pack/test/monitoring_api_integration/config.ts b/x-pack/test/monitoring_api_integration/config.ts
index cd016afb6dcfd..786fde0bb1d30 100644
--- a/x-pack/test/monitoring_api_integration/config.ts
+++ b/x-pack/test/monitoring_api_integration/config.ts
@@ -7,8 +7,6 @@
 
 import { FtrConfigProviderContext } from '@kbn/test';
 
-import { bundledPackagesLocation, getPackagesArgs } from './packages';
-
 export default async function ({ readConfigFile }: FtrConfigProviderContext) {
   const xPackAPITestsConfig = await readConfigFile(require.resolve('../api_integration/config.ts'));
 
@@ -22,11 +20,7 @@ export default async function ({ readConfigFile }: FtrConfigProviderContext) {
     esTestCluster: xPackAPITestsConfig.get('esTestCluster'),
     kbnTestServer: {
       ...xPackAPITestsConfig.get('kbnTestServer'),
-      serverArgs: [
-        ...xPackAPITestsConfig.get('kbnTestServer.serverArgs'),
-        `--xpack.fleet.developer.bundledPackageLocation=${bundledPackagesLocation}`,
-        ...getPackagesArgs(),
-      ],
+      serverArgs: [...xPackAPITestsConfig.get('kbnTestServer.serverArgs')],
     },
   };
 }
diff --git a/x-pack/test/monitoring_api_integration/packages.ts b/x-pack/test/monitoring_api_integration/packages.ts
index aaa11d8d0fe9e..284bba089a55c 100644
--- a/x-pack/test/monitoring_api_integration/packages.ts
+++ b/x-pack/test/monitoring_api_integration/packages.ts
@@ -6,6 +6,10 @@
  */
 
 import path from 'path';
+import { createReadStream } from 'fs';
+import type SuperTest from 'supertest';
+
+type SupportedPackage = 'beat' | 'elasticsearch' | 'enterprisesearch' | 'logstash' | 'kibana';
 
 const PACKAGES = [
   { name: 'beat', version: '0.1.3' },
@@ -25,3 +29,26 @@ export const getPackagesArgs = (): string[] => {
 };
 
 export const bundledPackagesLocation = path.join(path.dirname(__filename), '/fixtures/packages');
+
+export function installPackage(
+  supertest: SuperTest.SuperTest<SuperTest.Test>,
+  packageName: SupportedPackage
+) {
+  const pkg = PACKAGES.find(({ name }) => name === packageName);
+  const request = supertest
+    .post('/api/fleet/epm/packages')
+    .set('kbn-xsrf', 'xxx')
+    .set('content-type', 'application/zip');
+
+  return new Promise<void>((resolve, reject) => {
+    createReadStream(path.join(bundledPackagesLocation, `${pkg!.name}-${pkg!.version}.zip`))
+      .on('data', (chunk) => request.write(chunk))
+      .on('end', () => {
+        request
+          .send()
+          .expect(200)
+          .then(() => resolve())
+          .catch(reject);
+      });
+  });
+}