diff --git a/cluster/gce/config-default.sh b/cluster/gce/config-default.sh
index 52eaf584e65..e402c0c2bd6 100755
--- a/cluster/gce/config-default.sh
+++ b/cluster/gce/config-default.sh
@@ -564,4 +564,4 @@ fi
 # --image-credential-provider-bin-dir=${path-to-auth-provider-binary}
 # Also, it is required that DisableKubeletCloudCredentialProviders
 # feature gates are set to true for kubelet to use external credential provider.
-export ENABLE_AUTH_PROVIDER_GCP="${ENABLE_AUTH_PROVIDER_GCP:-false}"
\ No newline at end of file
+export ENABLE_AUTH_PROVIDER_GCP="${ENABLE_AUTH_PROVIDER_GCP:-true}"
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/cluster/gce/config-test.sh b/cluster/gce/config-test.sh
index 912d5143875..ea88f364b03 100755
--- a/cluster/gce/config-test.sh
+++ b/cluster/gce/config-test.sh
@@ -613,4 +613,4 @@ fi
 # --image-credential-provider-bin-dir=${path-to-auth-provider-binary}
 # Also, it is required that DisableKubeletCloudCredentialProviders and KubeletCredentialProviders
 # feature gates are set to true for kubelet to use external credential provider.
-export ENABLE_AUTH_PROVIDER_GCP="${ENABLE_AUTH_PROVIDER_GCP:-false}"
\ No newline at end of file
+export ENABLE_AUTH_PROVIDER_GCP="${ENABLE_AUTH_PROVIDER_GCP:-true}"
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/cluster/gce/util.sh b/cluster/gce/util.sh
index 1f6aa522227..278e29a3f87 100755
--- a/cluster/gce/util.sh
+++ b/cluster/gce/util.sh
@@ -770,7 +770,7 @@ function construct-linux-kubelet-flags {
   # If ENABLE_AUTH_PROVIDER_GCP is set to true, kubelet is enabled to use out-of-tree auth 
   # credential provider instead of in-tree auth credential provider.
   # https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/kubelet-credential-provider/kubelet-credential-provider
-  if [[ "${ENABLE_AUTH_PROVIDER_GCP:-false}" == "true" ]]; then
+  if [[ "${ENABLE_AUTH_PROVIDER_GCP:-true}" == "true" ]]; then
     # Keep the values of --image-credential-provider-config and --image-credential-provider-bin-dir
     # in sync with value of auth_config_file and auth_provider_dir set in install-auth-provider-gcp function
     # in gci/configure.sh.
@@ -882,7 +882,7 @@ function construct-windows-kubelet-flags {
 
   # If ENABLE_AUTH_PROVIDER_GCP is set to true, kubelet is enabled to use out-of-tree auth
   # credential provider. https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/kubelet-credential-provider/kubelet-credential-provider
-  if [[ "${ENABLE_AUTH_PROVIDER_GCP:-false}" == "true" ]]; then
+  if [[ "${ENABLE_AUTH_PROVIDER_GCP:-true}" == "true" ]]; then
     flags+="  --image-credential-provider-config=${AUTH_PROVIDER_GCP_WINDOWS_CONF_FILE}"
     flags+="  --image-credential-provider-bin-dir=${AUTH_PROVIDER_GCP_WINDOWS_BIN_DIR}"
   fi
@@ -1127,7 +1127,7 @@ METADATA_AGENT_CLUSTER_LEVEL_MEMORY_REQUEST: $(yaml-quote "${METADATA_AGENT_CLUS
 DOCKER_REGISTRY_MIRROR_URL: $(yaml-quote "${DOCKER_REGISTRY_MIRROR_URL:-}")
 ENABLE_L7_LOADBALANCING: $(yaml-quote "${ENABLE_L7_LOADBALANCING:-none}")
 ENABLE_CLUSTER_LOGGING: $(yaml-quote "${ENABLE_CLUSTER_LOGGING:-false}")
-ENABLE_AUTH_PROVIDER_GCP: $(yaml-quote "${ENABLE_AUTH_PROVIDER_GCP:-false}")
+ENABLE_AUTH_PROVIDER_GCP: $(yaml-quote "${ENABLE_AUTH_PROVIDER_GCP:-true}")
 ENABLE_NODE_PROBLEM_DETECTOR: $(yaml-quote "${ENABLE_NODE_PROBLEM_DETECTOR:-none}")
 NODE_PROBLEM_DETECTOR_VERSION: $(yaml-quote "${NODE_PROBLEM_DETECTOR_VERSION:-}")
 NODE_PROBLEM_DETECTOR_TAR_HASH: $(yaml-quote "${NODE_PROBLEM_DETECTOR_TAR_HASH:-}")