diff --git a/test/images/image-util.sh b/test/images/image-util.sh
index cd4b929692d..9ded1068baa 100755
--- a/test/images/image-util.sh
+++ b/test/images/image-util.sh
@@ -34,6 +34,33 @@ listOsArchs() {
   cut -d "=" -f 1 "${image}"/BASEIMAGE
 }
 
+splitOsArch() {
+    image=$1
+    os_arch=$2
+
+    if [[ $os_arch =~ .*/.*/.* ]]; then
+      # for Windows, we have to support both LTS and SAC channels, so we're building multiple Windows images.
+      # the format for this case is: OS/ARCH/OS_VERSION.
+      os_name=$(echo "$os_arch" | cut -d "/" -f 1)
+      arch=$(echo "$os_arch" | cut -d "/" -f 2)
+      os_version=$(echo "$os_arch" | cut -d "/" -f 3)
+      suffix="$os_name-$arch-$os_version"
+
+      # currently, GCE does not have Hyper-V support, which means that the same node cannot be used to build
+      # multiple versions of Windows images. Which is why we have $REMOTE_DOCKER_URL_$os_version URLs configured.
+      # TODO(claudiub): once Hyper-V support has been added to GCE, revert this to just $REMOTE_DOCKER_URL.
+      remote_docker_url_name="REMOTE_DOCKER_URL_$os_version"
+      REMOTE_DOCKER_URL=$(eval echo "\${${remote_docker_url_name}:-}")
+    elif [[ $os_arch =~ .*/.* ]]; then
+      os_name=$(echo "$os_arch" | cut -d "/" -f 1)
+      arch=$(echo "$os_arch" | cut -d "/" -f 2)
+      suffix="$os_name-$arch"
+    else
+      echo "The BASEIMAGE file for the ${image} image is not properly formatted. Expected entries to start with 'os/arch', found '${os_arch}' instead."
+      exit 1
+    fi
+}
+
 # Returns baseimage need to used in Dockerfile for any given architecture
 getBaseImage() {
   os_arch=$1
@@ -56,24 +83,12 @@ build() {
   kube::util::ensure-gnu-sed
 
   for os_arch in ${os_archs}; do
-    if [[ $os_arch =~ .*/.*/.* ]]; then
-      # for Windows, we have to support both LTS and SAC channels, so we're building multiple Windows images.
-      # the format for this case is: OS/ARCH/OS_VERSION.
-      os_name=$(echo "$os_arch" | cut -d "/" -f 1)
-      arch=$(echo "$os_arch" | cut -d "/" -f 2)
-      os_version=$(echo "$os_arch" | cut -d "/" -f 3)
-
-      # currently, GCE does not have Hyper-V support, which means that the same node cannot be used to build
-      # multiple versions of Windows images. Which is why we have $REMOTE_DOCKER_URL_$os_version URLs configured.
-      # TODO(claudiub): once Hyper-V support has been added to GCE, revert this to just $REMOTE_DOCKER_URL.
-      remote_docker_url_name="REMOTE_DOCKER_URL_$os_version"
-      REMOTE_DOCKER_URL=$(eval echo "\${${remote_docker_url_name}:-}")
-    elif [[ $os_arch =~ .*/.* ]]; then
-      os_name=$(echo "$os_arch" | cut -d "/" -f 1)
-      arch=$(echo "$os_arch" | cut -d "/" -f 2)
-    else
-      echo "The BASEIMAGE file for the ${image} image is not properly formatted. Expected entries to start with 'os/arch', found '${os_arch}' instead."
-      exit 1
+    splitOsArch "${image}" "${os_arch}"
+    if [[ "${os_name}" == "windows" && -z "${REMOTE_DOCKER_URL}" ]]; then
+      # If we have a Windows os_arch entry but no Remote Docker Daemon for it,
+      # we should skip it, so we don't have to build any binaries for it.
+      echo "Cannot build the image '${image}' for ${os_arch}. REMOTE_DOCKER_URL_$os_version should be set, containing the URL to a Windows docker daemon."
+      continue
     fi
 
     echo "Building image for ${image} OS/ARCH: ${os_arch}..."
@@ -139,8 +154,6 @@ build() {
         --tlscert "${HOME}/.docker-${os_version}/cert.pem" --tlskey "${HOME}/.docker-${os_version}/key.pem" \
         -H "${REMOTE_DOCKER_URL}" build --pull -t "${REGISTRY}/${image}:${TAG}-${os_name}-${arch}-${os_version}" \
         --build-arg BASEIMAGE="${BASEIMAGE}" -f $dockerfile_name .
-    else
-      echo "Cannot build the image '${image}' for ${os_arch}. REMOTE_DOCKER_URL_$os_version should be set, containing the URL to a Windows docker daemon."
     fi
     popd
   done
@@ -168,25 +181,7 @@ push() {
     os_archs=$(printf 'linux/%s\n' "${!QEMUARCHS[*]}")
   fi
   for os_arch in ${os_archs}; do
-    if [[ $os_arch =~ .*/.*/.* ]]; then
-      # for Windows, we have to support both LTS and SAC channels, so we're building multiple Windows images.
-      # the format for this case is: OS/ARCH/OS_VERSION.
-      os_name=$(echo "$os_arch" | cut -d "/" -f 1)
-      arch=$(echo "$os_arch" | cut -d "/" -f 2)
-      os_version=$(echo "$os_arch" | cut -d "/" -f 3)
-
-      # currently, GCE does not have Hyper-V support, which means that the same node cannot be used to build
-      # multiple versions of Windows images. Which is why we have $REMOTE_DOCKER_URL_$os_version URLs configured.
-      # TODO(claudiub): once Hyper-V support has been added to GCE, revert this to just $REMOTE_DOCKER_URL.
-      remote_docker_url_name="REMOTE_DOCKER_URL_$os_version"
-      REMOTE_DOCKER_URL=$(eval echo "\${${remote_docker_url_name}:-}")
-    elif [[ $os_arch =~ .*/.* ]]; then
-      os_name=$(echo "$os_arch" | cut -d "/" -f 1)
-      arch=$(echo "$os_arch" | cut -d "/" -f 2)
-    else
-      echo "The BASEIMAGE file for the ${image} image is not properly formatted. Expected entries to start with 'os/arch', found '${os_arch}' instead."
-      exit 1
-    fi
+    splitOsArch "${image}" "${os_arch}"
 
     if [[ "$os_name" = "linux" ]]; then
       docker push "${REGISTRY}/${image}:${TAG}-${os_name}-${arch}"
@@ -197,16 +192,11 @@ push() {
         -H "${REMOTE_DOCKER_URL}" push "${REGISTRY}/${image}:${TAG}-${os_name}-${arch}-${os_version}"
     else
       echo "Cannot push the image '${image}' for ${os_arch}. REMOTE_DOCKER_URL_${os_version} should be set, containing the URL to a Windows docker daemon."
+      # we should exclude this image from the manifest list as well, we couldn't build / push it.
+      os_archs=$(printf "%s\n" "$os_archs" | grep -v "$os_arch" || true)
     fi
   done
 
-  # NOTE(claudiub): if the REMOTE_DOCKER_URL var is not set, or it is an empty string, we mustn't include
-  # Windows images into the manifest list.
-  if test -z "${REMOTE_DOCKER_URL:-}" && printf "%s\n" "$os_archs" | grep -q '^windows'; then
-    echo "Skipping pushing the image '${image}' for Windows. REMOTE_DOCKER_URL_\${os_version} should be set, containing the URL to a Windows docker daemon."
-    os_archs=$(printf "%s\n" "$os_archs" | grep -v "^windows" || true)
-  fi
-
   if test -z "${os_archs}"; then
     # this can happen for Windows-only images if they have been skipped entirely.
     echo "No image for the manifest list. Skipping ${image}."
@@ -223,21 +213,7 @@ push() {
   while IFS='' read -r line; do manifest+=("$line"); done < <(echo "$os_archs" | ${SED} "s~\/~-~g" | ${SED} -e "s~[^ ]*~$REGISTRY\/$image:$TAG\-&~g")
   docker manifest create --amend "${REGISTRY}/${image}:${TAG}" "${manifest[@]}"
   for os_arch in ${os_archs}; do
-    if [[ $os_arch =~ .*/.*/.* ]]; then
-      # for Windows, we have to support both LTS and SAC channels, so we're building multiple Windows images.
-      # the format for this case is: OS/ARCH/OS_VERSION.
-      os_name=$(echo "$os_arch" | cut -d "/" -f 1)
-      arch=$(echo "$os_arch" | cut -d "/" -f 2)
-      os_version=$(echo "$os_arch" | cut -d "/" -f 3)
-      suffix="$os_name-$arch-$os_version"
-    elif [[ $os_arch =~ .*/.* ]]; then
-      os_name=$(echo "$os_arch" | cut -d "/" -f 1)
-      arch=$(echo "$os_arch" | cut -d "/" -f 2)
-      suffix="$os_name-$arch"
-    else
-      echo "The BASEIMAGE file for the ${image} image is not properly formatted. Expected entries to start with 'os/arch', found '${os_arch}' instead."
-      exit 1
-    fi
+    splitOsArch "${image}" "${os_arch}"
     docker manifest annotate --os "${os_name}" --arch "${arch}" "${REGISTRY}/${image}:${TAG}" "${REGISTRY}/${image}:${TAG}-${suffix}"
   done
   docker manifest push --purge "${REGISTRY}/${image}:${TAG}"
diff --git a/test/images/kitten/Dockerfile b/test/images/kitten/Dockerfile
index 48d6f860d88..f92dd7a89d4 100644
--- a/test/images/kitten/Dockerfile
+++ b/test/images/kitten/Dockerfile
@@ -16,3 +16,4 @@ ARG BASEIMAGE
 FROM $BASEIMAGE
 COPY html/kitten.jpg kitten.jpg
 COPY html/data.json data.json
+CMD ["test-webserver"]
diff --git a/test/images/nautilus/Dockerfile b/test/images/nautilus/Dockerfile
index c344116bf8c..2cb4784a8fa 100644
--- a/test/images/nautilus/Dockerfile
+++ b/test/images/nautilus/Dockerfile
@@ -16,3 +16,4 @@ ARG BASEIMAGE
 FROM $BASEIMAGE
 COPY html/nautilus.jpg nautilus.jpg
 COPY html/data.json data.json
+CMD ["test-webserver"]