diff --git a/.drone.yml b/.drone.yml
index e70cb33582f7..4010cf009fa9 100644
--- a/.drone.yml
+++ b/.drone.yml
@@ -622,6 +622,7 @@ steps:
   - vagrant destroy -f
   - go test -v -timeout=30m ./secretsencryption_test.go -ci -local
   - cd ../upgradecluster
+  - vagrant destroy -f
   - E2E_RELEASE_CHANNEL="v1.25" go test -v -timeout=45m ./upgradecluster_test.go  -ci -local
   - docker stop registry && docker rm registry
 
diff --git a/tests/e2e/startup/startup_test.go b/tests/e2e/startup/startup_test.go
index 0ea4187b8d61..226e39b11d23 100644
--- a/tests/e2e/startup/startup_test.go
+++ b/tests/e2e/startup/startup_test.go
@@ -77,17 +77,18 @@ func KillK3sCluster(nodes []string) error {
 
 var _ = ReportAfterEach(e2e.GenReport)
 
+var _ = BeforeSuite(func() {
+	var err error
+	if *local {
+		serverNodeNames, agentNodeNames, err = e2e.CreateLocalCluster(*nodeOS, 1, 1)
+	} else {
+		serverNodeNames, agentNodeNames, err = e2e.CreateCluster(*nodeOS, 1, 1)
+	}
+	Expect(err).NotTo(HaveOccurred(), e2e.GetVagrantLog(err))
+})
+
 var _ = Describe("Various Startup Configurations", Ordered, func() {
 	Context("Verify CRI-Dockerd :", func() {
-		It("Stands up the nodes", func() {
-			var err error
-			if *local {
-				serverNodeNames, agentNodeNames, err = e2e.CreateLocalCluster(*nodeOS, 1, 1)
-			} else {
-				serverNodeNames, agentNodeNames, err = e2e.CreateCluster(*nodeOS, 1, 1)
-			}
-			Expect(err).NotTo(HaveOccurred(), e2e.GetVagrantLog(err))
-		})
 		It("Starts K3s with no issues", func() {
 			dockerYAML := "docker: true"
 			err := StartK3sCluster(append(serverNodeNames, agentNodeNames...), dockerYAML, dockerYAML)
@@ -109,7 +110,7 @@ var _ = Describe("Various Startup Configurations", Ordered, func() {
 				for _, node := range nodes {
 					g.Expect(node.Status).Should(Equal("Ready"))
 				}
-			}, "620s", "5s").Should(Succeed())
+			}, "360s", "5s").Should(Succeed())
 			_, _ = e2e.ParseNodes(kubeConfigFile, true)
 
 			fmt.Printf("\nFetching pods status\n")
@@ -123,7 +124,7 @@ var _ = Describe("Various Startup Configurations", Ordered, func() {
 						g.Expect(pod.Status).Should(Equal("Running"), pod.Name)
 					}
 				}
-			}, "620s", "5s").Should(Succeed())
+			}, "360s", "5s").Should(Succeed())
 			_, _ = e2e.ParsePods(kubeConfigFile, true)
 		})
 		It("Kills the cluster", func() {
@@ -153,7 +154,7 @@ var _ = Describe("Various Startup Configurations", Ordered, func() {
 				for _, node := range nodes {
 					g.Expect(node.Status).Should(Equal("Ready"))
 				}
-			}, "620s", "5s").Should(Succeed())
+			}, "360s", "5s").Should(Succeed())
 			_, _ = e2e.ParseNodes(kubeConfigFile, true)
 
 			fmt.Printf("\nFetching pods status\n")
@@ -167,7 +168,7 @@ var _ = Describe("Various Startup Configurations", Ordered, func() {
 						g.Expect(pod.Status).Should(Equal("Running"), pod.Name)
 					}
 				}
-			}, "620s", "5s").Should(Succeed())
+			}, "360s", "5s").Should(Succeed())
 			_, _ = e2e.ParsePods(kubeConfigFile, true)
 		})
 		It("Kills the cluster", func() {
@@ -197,7 +198,7 @@ var _ = Describe("Various Startup Configurations", Ordered, func() {
 				for _, node := range nodes {
 					g.Expect(node.Status).Should(Equal("Ready"))
 				}
-			}, "620s", "5s").Should(Succeed())
+			}, "360s", "5s").Should(Succeed())
 			_, _ = e2e.ParseNodes(kubeConfigFile, true)
 
 			fmt.Printf("\nFetching pods status\n")
@@ -211,21 +212,21 @@ var _ = Describe("Various Startup Configurations", Ordered, func() {
 						g.Expect(pod.Status).Should(Equal("Running"), pod.Name)
 					}
 				}
-			}, "620s", "5s").Should(Succeed())
+			}, "360s", "5s").Should(Succeed())
 			_, _ = e2e.ParsePods(kubeConfigFile, true)
 		})
 
 		It("Returns pod metrics", func() {
 			cmd := "kubectl top pod -A"
 			Eventually(func() error {
-				_, err := e2e.RunCmdOnNode(cmd, serverNodeNames[0])
+				_, err := e2e.RunCommand(cmd)
 				return err
-			}, "620s", "5s").Should(Succeed())
+			}, "600s", "5s").Should(Succeed())
 		})
 
 		It("Returns node metrics", func() {
 			cmd := "kubectl top node"
-			_, err := e2e.RunCmdOnNode(cmd, serverNodeNames[0])
+			_, err := e2e.RunCommand(cmd)
 			Expect(err).NotTo(HaveOccurred())
 		})
 
@@ -237,7 +238,7 @@ var _ = Describe("Various Startup Configurations", Ordered, func() {
 
 		It("Collects logs from a pod", func() {
 			cmd := "kubectl logs -n kube-system -l app.kubernetes.io/name=traefik -c traefik"
-			_, err := e2e.RunCmdOnNode(cmd, serverNodeNames[0])
+			_, err := e2e.RunCommand(cmd)
 			Expect(err).NotTo(HaveOccurred())
 		})
 
diff --git a/tests/e2e/testutils.go b/tests/e2e/testutils.go
index 9c9ec8a96b56..ac642698920c 100644
--- a/tests/e2e/testutils.go
+++ b/tests/e2e/testutils.go
@@ -303,6 +303,9 @@ func GenKubeConfigFile(serverName string) (string, error) {
 	if err := os.WriteFile(kubeConfigFile, []byte(kubeConfig), 0644); err != nil {
 		return "", err
 	}
+	if err := os.Setenv("E2E_KUBECONFIG", kubeConfigFile); err != nil {
+		return "", err
+	}
 	return kubeConfigFile, nil
 }
 
@@ -453,9 +456,11 @@ func RunCmdOnNode(cmd string, nodename string) (string, error) {
 	return out, nil
 }
 
-// RunCommand executes a command on the host
 func RunCommand(cmd string) (string, error) {
 	c := exec.Command("bash", "-c", cmd)
+	if kc, ok := os.LookupEnv("E2E_KUBECONFIG"); ok {
+		c.Env = append(os.Environ(), "KUBECONFIG="+kc)
+	}
 	out, err := c.CombinedOutput()
 	return string(out), err
 }