diff --git a/hack/remote/cloud-init.yaml.tpl b/hack/remote/cloud-init.yaml.tpl
index 8d9e8fa8cb6e..46a4990fa2af 100644
--- a/hack/remote/cloud-init.yaml.tpl
+++ b/hack/remote/cloud-init.yaml.tpl
@@ -156,7 +156,7 @@ write_files:
     kind version
 
     # Store config for kind cluster with mounts for CAPD.
-    cat <<EOF > ${HOME}/kind.yaml
+    cat <<EOF > /root/kind.yaml
     kind: Cluster
     apiVersion: kind.x-k8s.io/v1alpha4
     networking:
diff --git a/hack/remote/setup-docker-lib.sh b/hack/remote/setup-docker-lib.sh
index 704ba2f37a14..132faa342e88 100755
--- a/hack/remote/setup-docker-lib.sh
+++ b/hack/remote/setup-docker-lib.sh
@@ -194,7 +194,7 @@ function template_cloud_init_file {
   cloud_init_file="${ARTIFACTS_DOCKER_SERVER}/cloud-init.yaml"
 
   # Ensure cloud init file exists and is empty.
-  truncate --size 0 "$cloud_init_file"
+  echo "" > "$cloud_init_file"
 
   # Render cloud init file.
   # shellcheck disable=SC2016,SC2086,SC2153