diff --git a/cluster/cluster.go b/cluster/cluster.go
index 5574bc37..d311f2c7 100644
--- a/cluster/cluster.go
+++ b/cluster/cluster.go
@@ -305,12 +305,13 @@ func (c *Cluster) PrePullK8sImages(ctx context.Context) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
-func ConfigureCluster(ctx context.Context, rkeConfig v3.RancherKubernetesEngineConfig, crtBundle map[string]pki.CertificatePKI, clusterFilePath, configDir string, k8sWrapTransport k8s.WrapTransport) error {
+func ConfigureCluster(ctx context.Context, rkeConfig v3.RancherKubernetesEngineConfig, crtBundle map[string]pki.CertificatePKI, clusterFilePath, configDir string, k8sWrapTransport k8s.WrapTransport, useKubectl bool) error {
 	// dialer factories are not needed here since we are not uses docker only k8s jobs
 	kubeCluster, err := ParseCluster(ctx, &rkeConfig, clusterFilePath, configDir, nil, nil, k8sWrapTransport)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
+	kubeCluster.UseKubectlDeploy = useKubectl
 	if len(kubeCluster.ControlPlaneHosts) > 0 {
 		kubeCluster.Certificates = crtBundle
 		if err := kubeCluster.deployNetworkPlugin(ctx); err != nil {
diff --git a/cmd/up.go b/cmd/up.go
index ee4180b5..d3ac91ff 100644
--- a/cmd/up.go
+++ b/cmd/up.go
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ func ClusterUp(
 		return APIURL, caCrt, clientCert, clientKey, err
 	}
 
-	err = cluster.ConfigureCluster(ctx, kubeCluster.RancherKubernetesEngineConfig, kubeCluster.Certificates, clusterFilePath, configDir, k8sWrapTransport)
+	err = cluster.ConfigureCluster(ctx, kubeCluster.RancherKubernetesEngineConfig, kubeCluster.Certificates, clusterFilePath, configDir, k8sWrapTransport, false)
 	if err != nil {
 		return APIURL, caCrt, clientCert, clientKey, err
 	}