diff --git a/.github/.OwlBot.lock.yaml b/.github/.OwlBot.lock.yaml
index 1cab9ca..39a62ca 100644
--- a/.github/.OwlBot.lock.yaml
+++ b/.github/.OwlBot.lock.yaml
@@ -13,5 +13,5 @@
 # limitations under the License.
 docker:
   image: gcr.io/cloud-devrel-public-resources/owlbot-nodejs:latest
-  digest: sha256:22e41dd7cd82683fa338b647abcc3a29ddb1b17e800b089adc0bec0a3175312c
-# created: 2024-10-30T16:51:59.982020867Z
+  digest: sha256:0d39e59663287ae929c1d4ccf8ebf7cef9946826c9b86eda7e85d8d752dbb584
+# created: 2024-11-21T22:39:44.342569463Z
diff --git a/.kokoro/samples-test.sh b/.kokoro/samples-test.sh
index c1cb0fc..5287753 100755
--- a/.kokoro/samples-test.sh
+++ b/.kokoro/samples-test.sh
@@ -16,7 +16,9 @@
 
 set -eo pipefail
 
-export NPM_CONFIG_PREFIX=${HOME}/.npm-global
+# Ensure the npm global directory is writable, otherwise rebuild `npm`
+mkdir -p $NPM_CONFIG_PREFIX
+npm config -g ls || npm i -g npm@`npm --version`
 
 # Setup service account credentials.
 export GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS=${KOKORO_GFILE_DIR}/secret_manager/long-door-651-kokoro-system-test-service-account