diff --git a/test/e2e/windows/host_process.go b/test/e2e/windows/host_process.go
index 56bdfaf31a1..e1cfd156e65 100644
--- a/test/e2e/windows/host_process.go
+++ b/test/e2e/windows/host_process.go
@@ -19,10 +19,12 @@ package windows
 import (
 	"context"
 	"fmt"
-	"github.com/onsi/gomega"
 	"strings"
 	"time"
 
+	"github.com/onsi/gomega"
+
+	semver "github.com/blang/semver/v4"
 	"github.com/onsi/ginkgo/v2"
 	v1 "k8s.io/api/core/v1"
 	metav1 "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1"
@@ -196,6 +198,29 @@ var _ = SIGDescribe("[Feature:WindowsHostProcessContainers] [MinimumKubeletVersi
 	})
 
 	ginkgo.It("container command path validation", func() {
+
+		// The way hostprocess containers are created is being updated in container
+		// v1.7 to better support volume mounts and part of these changes include
+		// updates how the container's starting process is invoked.
+		// These test cases are only valid for containerd v1.6.
+		// See https://github.com/kubernetes/enhancements/blob/master/keps/sig-windows/1981-windows-privileged-container-support/README.md
+		// for more details.
+		ginkgo.By("Ensuring Windows nodes are running containerd v1.6.x")
+		windowsNode, err := findWindowsNode(f)
+		framework.ExpectNoError(err, "error finding Windows node")
+		r, v, err := getNodeContainerRuntimeAndVersion(windowsNode)
+		framework.ExpectNoError(err, "error getting node container runtime and version")
+		framework.Logf("Got runtime: %s, version %v, node: %s", r, v, windowsNode.Name)
+
+		if !strings.EqualFold(r, "containerd") {
+			e2eskipper.Skipf("container runtime is not containerd")
+		}
+
+		v1dot7 := semver.MustParse("1.7.0")
+		if v.GTE(v1dot7) {
+			e2eskipper.Skipf("container runtime is >= 1.7.0")
+		}
+
 		// The following test cases are broken into batches to speed up the test.
 		// Each batch will be scheduled as a single pod with a container for each test case.
 		// Pods will be scheduled sequentially since the start-up cost of containers is high
diff --git a/test/e2e/windows/utils.go b/test/e2e/windows/utils.go
index 442cf460370..f880f23fe81 100644
--- a/test/e2e/windows/utils.go
+++ b/test/e2e/windows/utils.go
@@ -17,13 +17,18 @@ limitations under the License.
 package windows
 
 import (
+	"fmt"
+	"strings"
 	"time"
 
 	appsv1 "k8s.io/api/apps/v1"
+	v1 "k8s.io/api/core/v1"
 	apierrors "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/errors"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/wait"
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/controller/deployment/util"
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/test/e2e/framework"
+
+	semver "github.com/blang/semver/v4"
 )
 
 // waits for a deployment to be created and the desired replicas
@@ -44,3 +49,20 @@ func waitForDeployment(getDeploymentFunc func() (*appsv1.Deployment, error), int
 		return util.DeploymentComplete(deployment, &deployment.Status), nil
 	})
 }
+
+// gets the container runtime and version for a node
+func getNodeContainerRuntimeAndVersion(n v1.Node) (string, semver.Version, error) {
+	containerRuntimeVersionString := n.Status.NodeInfo.DeepCopy().ContainerRuntimeVersion
+	parts := strings.Split(containerRuntimeVersionString, "://")
+
+	if len(parts) != 2 {
+		return "", semver.Version{}, fmt.Errorf("could not get container runtime and version from '%s'", containerRuntimeVersionString)
+	}
+
+	v, err := semver.ParseTolerant(parts[1])
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", semver.Version{}, err
+	}
+
+	return parts[0], v, nil
+}