diff --git a/hack/e2e-node-test.sh b/hack/e2e-node-test.sh
index 5111e3fe34c..64238f5a40b 100755
--- a/hack/e2e-node-test.sh
+++ b/hack/e2e-node-test.sh
@@ -129,6 +129,6 @@ else
   # Test using the host the script was run on
   # Provided for backwards compatibility
   "${ginkgo}" --focus=$focus --skip=$skip "${KUBE_ROOT}/test/e2e_node/" --report-dir=${report} \
-    -- --alsologtostderr --v 2 --node-name $(hostname) --build-services=true --start-services=true --stop-services=true
+    -- --alsologtostderr --v 2 --node-name $(hostname) --disable-kubenet=true --build-services=true --start-services=true --stop-services=true
   exit $?
 fi
diff --git a/hack/verify-flags/known-flags.txt b/hack/verify-flags/known-flags.txt
index 0a9ce63dd27..493da3aee1f 100644
--- a/hack/verify-flags/known-flags.txt
+++ b/hack/verify-flags/known-flags.txt
@@ -99,6 +99,7 @@ deployment-label-key
 deserialization-cache-size
 dest-file
 disable-filter
+disable-kubenet
 dns-port
 dns-provider
 dns-provider-config
diff --git a/test/e2e_node/e2e_remote.go b/test/e2e_node/e2e_remote.go
index e7617c75cde..a2c81d36d5d 100644
--- a/test/e2e_node/e2e_remote.go
+++ b/test/e2e_node/e2e_remote.go
@@ -41,11 +41,12 @@ var ginkgoFlags = flag.String("ginkgo-flags", "", "Passed to ginkgo to specify a
 var sshOptionsMap map[string]string
 
 const (
-	archiveName = "e2e_node_test.tar.gz"
-	CNI_RELEASE = "c864f0e1ea73719b8f4582402b0847064f9883b0"
+	archiveName  = "e2e_node_test.tar.gz"
+	CNIRelease   = "c864f0e1ea73719b8f4582402b0847064f9883b0"
+	CNIDirectory = "cni"
 )
 
-var CNI_URL = fmt.Sprintf("https://storage.googleapis.com/kubernetes-release/network-plugins/cni-%s.tar.gz", CNI_RELEASE)
+var CNIURL = fmt.Sprintf("https://storage.googleapis.com/kubernetes-release/network-plugins/cni-%s.tar.gz", CNIRelease)
 
 var hostnameIpOverrides = struct {
 	sync.RWMutex
@@ -157,14 +158,6 @@ func RunRemote(archive string, host string, cleanup bool, junitFileNumber int, s
 		}
 	}
 
-	// Install the cni plugin. Note that /opt/cni does not get cleaned up after
-	// the test completes.
-	if _, err := RunSshCommand("ssh", GetHostnameOrIp(host), "--", "sh", "-c",
-		getSshCommand(" ; ", "sudo mkdir -p /opt/cni", fmt.Sprintf("sudo wget -O - %s | sudo tar -xz -C /opt/cni", CNI_URL))); err != nil {
-		// Exit failure with the error
-		return "", false, err
-	}
-
 	// Create the temp staging directory
 	glog.Infof("Staging test binaries on %s", host)
 	tmp := fmt.Sprintf("/tmp/gcloud-e2e-%d", rand.Int31())
@@ -182,6 +175,15 @@ func RunRemote(archive string, host string, cleanup bool, junitFileNumber int, s
 		}()
 	}
 
+	// Install the cni plugin.
+	cniPath := filepath.Join(tmp, CNIDirectory)
+	if _, err := RunSshCommand("ssh", GetHostnameOrIp(host), "--", "sh", "-c",
+		getSshCommand(" ; ", fmt.Sprintf("sudo mkdir -p %s", cniPath),
+			fmt.Sprintf("sudo wget -O - %s | sudo tar -xz -C %s", CNIURL, cniPath))); err != nil {
+		// Exit failure with the error
+		return "", false, err
+	}
+
 	// Copy the archive to the staging directory
 	_, err = RunSshCommand("scp", archive, fmt.Sprintf("%s:%s/", GetHostnameOrIp(host), tmp))
 	if err != nil {
diff --git a/test/e2e_node/e2e_service.go b/test/e2e_node/e2e_service.go
index 273aa2b3f91..58ee6a4723f 100644
--- a/test/e2e_node/e2e_service.go
+++ b/test/e2e_node/e2e_service.go
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ import (
 	"os"
 	"os/exec"
 	"path"
+	"path/filepath"
 	"reflect"
 	"strconv"
 	"strings"
@@ -233,9 +234,17 @@ func (es *e2eService) startKubeletServer() (*killCmd, error) {
 		"--config", es.kubeletStaticPodDir,
 		"--file-check-frequency", "10s", // Check file frequently so tests won't wait too long
 		"--v", LOG_VERBOSITY_LEVEL, "--logtostderr",
-		"--network-plugin=kubenet",
 		"--pod-cidr=10.180.0.0/24", // Assign a fixed CIDR to the node because there is no node controller.
 	)
+	if !*disableKubenet {
+		cwd, err := os.Getwd()
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+		cmdArgs = append(cmdArgs,
+			"--network-plugin=kubenet",
+			"--network-plugin-dir", filepath.Join(cwd, CNIDirectory, "bin")) // Enable kubenet
+	}
 	cmd := exec.Command("sudo", cmdArgs...)
 	hcc := newHealthCheckCommand(
 		"http://127.0.0.1:10255/healthz",
diff --git a/test/e2e_node/util.go b/test/e2e_node/util.go
index 00f12a13fb1..acf07e82198 100644
--- a/test/e2e_node/util.go
+++ b/test/e2e_node/util.go
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ import (
 var kubeletAddress = flag.String("kubelet-address", "http://127.0.0.1:10255", "Host and port of the kubelet")
 var apiServerAddress = flag.String("api-server-address", "http://127.0.0.1:8080", "Host and port of the api server")
 
+var disableKubenet = flag.Bool("disable-kubenet", false, "If true, start kubelet without kubenet")
 var buildServices = flag.Bool("build-services", true, "If true, build local executables")
 var startServices = flag.Bool("start-services", true, "If true, start local node services")
 var stopServices = flag.Bool("stop-services", true, "If true, stop local node services after running tests")