diff --git a/test/e2e_node/cpu_manager_test.go b/test/e2e_node/cpu_manager_test.go
index 5ef5aa58a98..fb206305a0b 100644
--- a/test/e2e_node/cpu_manager_test.go
+++ b/test/e2e_node/cpu_manager_test.go
@@ -228,7 +228,7 @@ func configureCPUManagerInKubelet(oldCfg *kubeletconfig.KubeletConfiguration, ku
 		}
 	}
 
-	return oldCfg
+	return newCfg
 }
 
 func runGuPodTest(f *framework.Framework, cpuCount int) {
@@ -532,8 +532,10 @@ func runCPUManagerTests(f *framework.Framework) {
 
 	ginkgo.BeforeEach(func() {
 		var err error
-		oldCfg, err = getCurrentKubeletConfig()
-		framework.ExpectNoError(err)
+		if oldCfg == nil {
+			oldCfg, err = getCurrentKubeletConfig()
+			framework.ExpectNoError(err)
+		}
 	})
 
 	ginkgo.It("should assign CPUs as expected based on the Pod spec", func() {
diff --git a/test/e2e_node/e2e_node_suite_test.go b/test/e2e_node/e2e_node_suite_test.go
index 848d3af4b72..71c4c44ff25 100644
--- a/test/e2e_node/e2e_node_suite_test.go
+++ b/test/e2e_node/e2e_node_suite_test.go
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ func registerNodeFlags(flags *flag.FlagSet) {
 	// It is hard and unnecessary to deal with the complexity inside the test suite.
 	flags.BoolVar(&framework.TestContext.NodeConformance, "conformance", false, "If true, the test suite will not start kubelet, and fetch system log (kernel, docker, kubelet log etc.) to the report directory.")
 	flags.BoolVar(&framework.TestContext.PrepullImages, "prepull-images", true, "If true, prepull images so image pull failures do not cause test failures.")
-	flags.BoolVar(&framework.TestContext.RestartKubelet, "restart-kubelet", true, "If true, restart Kubelet unit when the process is killed.")
+	flags.BoolVar(&framework.TestContext.RestartKubelet, "restart-kubelet", false, "If true, restart Kubelet unit when the process is killed.")
 	flags.StringVar(&framework.TestContext.ImageDescription, "image-description", "", "The description of the image which the test will be running on.")
 	flags.StringVar(&framework.TestContext.SystemSpecName, "system-spec-name", "", "The name of the system spec (e.g., gke) that's used in the node e2e test. The system specs are in test/e2e_node/system/specs/. This is used by the test framework to determine which tests to run for validating the system requirements.")
 	flags.Var(cliflag.NewMapStringString(&framework.TestContext.ExtraEnvs), "extra-envs", "The extra environment variables needed for node e2e tests. Format: a list of key=value pairs, e.g., env1=val1,env2=val2")
diff --git a/test/e2e_node/memory_manager_test.go b/test/e2e_node/memory_manager_test.go
index 9c3e4c1005d..af3d948e025 100644
--- a/test/e2e_node/memory_manager_test.go
+++ b/test/e2e_node/memory_manager_test.go
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@ const (
 	resourceMemory     = "memory"
 	staticPolicy       = "Static"
 	nonePolicy         = "None"
+	hugepages2MiCount  = 8
 )
 
 // Helper for makeMemoryManagerPod().
@@ -318,23 +319,22 @@ var _ = SIGDescribe("Memory Manager [Disruptive] [Serial] [Feature:MemoryManager
 		if len(allNUMANodes) == 0 {
 			allNUMANodes = getAllNUMANodes()
 		}
-	})
-
-	// dynamically update the kubelet configuration
-	ginkgo.JustBeforeEach(func() {
-		hugepagesCount := 8
 
 		// allocate hugepages
 		if *is2MiHugepagesSupported {
 			ginkgo.By("Configuring hugepages")
 			gomega.Eventually(func() error {
-				return configureHugePages(hugepagesSize2M, hugepagesCount)
+				return configureHugePages(hugepagesSize2M, hugepages2MiCount)
 			}, 30*time.Second, framework.Poll).Should(gomega.BeNil())
+		}
+	})
 
-			restartKubelet(true)
-
+	// dynamically update the kubelet configuration
+	ginkgo.JustBeforeEach(func() {
+		// allocate hugepages
+		if *is2MiHugepagesSupported {
 			ginkgo.By("Waiting for hugepages resource to become available on the local node")
-			waitingForHugepages(hugepagesCount)
+			waitingForHugepages(hugepages2MiCount)
 
 			for i := 0; i < len(ctnParams); i++ {
 				ctnParams[i].hugepages2Mi = "8Mi"
@@ -358,10 +358,6 @@ var _ = SIGDescribe("Memory Manager [Disruptive] [Serial] [Feature:MemoryManager
 			gomega.Eventually(func() error {
 				return configureHugePages(hugepagesSize2M, 0)
 			}, 90*time.Second, 15*time.Second).ShouldNot(gomega.HaveOccurred(), "failed to release hugepages")
-
-			restartKubelet(true)
-
-			waitingForHugepages(0)
 		}
 	})
 
diff --git a/test/e2e_node/topology_manager_test.go b/test/e2e_node/topology_manager_test.go
index 9329593bce6..e4ff367363e 100644
--- a/test/e2e_node/topology_manager_test.go
+++ b/test/e2e_node/topology_manager_test.go
@@ -923,7 +923,7 @@ func runTopologyManagerTests(f *framework.Framework) {
 
 		configMap := getSRIOVDevicePluginConfigMap(framework.TestContext.SriovdpConfigMapFile)
 
-		oldCfg, err := getCurrentKubeletConfig()
+		oldCfg, err = getCurrentKubeletConfig()
 		framework.ExpectNoError(err)
 
 		policy := topologymanager.PolicySingleNumaNode
@@ -936,8 +936,10 @@ func runTopologyManagerTests(f *framework.Framework) {
 	})
 
 	ginkgo.AfterEach(func() {
-		// restore kubelet config
-		updateKubeletConfig(f, oldCfg, true)
+		if oldCfg != nil {
+			// restore kubelet config
+			updateKubeletConfig(f, oldCfg, true)
+		}
 	})
 }
 
diff --git a/test/e2e_node/util.go b/test/e2e_node/util.go
index 3bc3e85777f..819640c150e 100644
--- a/test/e2e_node/util.go
+++ b/test/e2e_node/util.go
@@ -163,7 +163,8 @@ func tempSetCurrentKubeletConfig(f *framework.Framework, updateFunction func(ini
 	var oldCfg *kubeletconfig.KubeletConfiguration
 
 	ginkgo.BeforeEach(func() {
-		oldCfg, err := getCurrentKubeletConfig()
+		var err error
+		oldCfg, err = getCurrentKubeletConfig()
 		framework.ExpectNoError(err)
 
 		newCfg := oldCfg.DeepCopy()