diff --git a/cluster/gce/gci/configure-helper.sh b/cluster/gce/gci/configure-helper.sh
index 76e936d6f73..88df3785883 100644
--- a/cluster/gce/gci/configure-helper.sh
+++ b/cluster/gce/gci/configure-helper.sh
@@ -2713,13 +2713,24 @@ function main() {
 
   KUBE_HOME="/home/kubernetes"
   KUBE_BIN=${KUBE_HOME}/bin
-  PYTHON="python"
   CONTAINERIZED_MOUNTER_HOME="${KUBE_HOME}/containerized_mounter"
   PV_RECYCLER_OVERRIDE_TEMPLATE="${KUBE_HOME}/kube-manifests/kubernetes/pv-recycler-template.yaml"
 
-  if [[ "$(python -V)" =~ "Python 3" ]]; then
+  if [[ "$(python -V 2>&1)" =~ "Python 2" ]]; then
+    # found python2, just use that
+    PYTHON="python"
+  elif [[ -f "/usr/bin/python2.7" ]]; then
+    # System python not defaulted to python 2 but using 2.7 during migration
     PYTHON="/usr/bin/python2.7"
+  else
+    # No python2 either by default, let's see if we can find python3
+    PYTHON="python3"
+    if ! command -v ${PYTHON} >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+      echo "ERROR Python not found. Aborting."
+      exit 2
+    fi
   fi
+  echo "Version : " $(${PYTHON} -V 2>&1)
 
   if [[ ! -e "${KUBE_HOME}/kube-env" ]]; then
     echo "The ${KUBE_HOME}/kube-env file does not exist!! Terminate cluster initialization."
diff --git a/cluster/gce/gci/configure.sh b/cluster/gce/gci/configure.sh
index 7b6a2d3e642..3529944b676 100644
--- a/cluster/gce/gci/configure.sh
+++ b/cluster/gce/gci/configure.sh
@@ -66,8 +66,13 @@ function download-kube-env {
     # Convert the yaml format file into a shell-style file.
     eval $(${PYTHON} -c '''
 import pipes,sys,yaml
-for k,v in yaml.load(sys.stdin).iteritems():
-  print("readonly {var}={value}".format(var = k, value = pipes.quote(str(v))))
+# check version of python and call methods appropriate for that version
+if sys.version_info[0] < 3:
+    items = yaml.load(sys.stdin).iteritems()
+else:
+    items = yaml.load(sys.stdin, Loader=yaml.BaseLoader).items()
+for k, v in items:
+    print("readonly {var}={value}".format(var=k, value=pipes.quote(str(v))))
 ''' < "${tmp_kube_env}" > "${KUBE_HOME}/kube-env")
     rm -f "${tmp_kube_env}"
   )
@@ -105,8 +110,13 @@ function download-kube-master-certs {
     # Convert the yaml format file into a shell-style file.
     eval $(${PYTHON} -c '''
 import pipes,sys,yaml
-for k,v in yaml.load(sys.stdin).iteritems():
-  print("readonly {var}={value}".format(var = k, value = pipes.quote(str(v))))
+# check version of python and call methods appropriate for that version
+if sys.version_info[0] < 3:
+    items = yaml.load(sys.stdin).iteritems()
+else:
+    items = yaml.load(sys.stdin, Loader=yaml.BaseLoader).items()
+for k, v in items:
+    print("readonly {var}={value}".format(var=k, value=pipes.quote(str(v))))
 ''' < "${tmp_kube_master_certs}" > "${KUBE_HOME}/kube-master-certs")
     rm -f "${tmp_kube_master_certs}"
   )
@@ -530,9 +540,21 @@ KUBE_HOME="/home/kubernetes"
 KUBE_BIN="${KUBE_HOME}/bin"
 PYTHON="python"
 
-if [[ "$(python -V)" =~ "Python 3" ]]; then
+if [[ "$(python -V 2>&1)" =~ "Python 2" ]]; then
+  # found python2, just use that
+  PYTHON="python"
+elif [[ -f "/usr/bin/python2.7" ]]; then
+  # System python not defaulted to python 2 but using 2.7 during migration
   PYTHON="/usr/bin/python2.7"
+else
+  # No python2 either by default, let's see if we can find python3
+  PYTHON="python3"
+  if ! command -v ${PYTHON} >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+    echo "ERROR Python not found. Aborting."
+    exit 2
+  fi
 fi
+echo "Version : " $(${PYTHON} -V 2>&1)
 
 # download and source kube-env
 download-kube-env