diff --git a/pkg/liqoctl/test/network/setup/namespace.go b/pkg/liqoctl/test/network/setup/namespace.go
index 406612286f..5ad703d5c5 100644
--- a/pkg/liqoctl/test/network/setup/namespace.go
+++ b/pkg/liqoctl/test/network/setup/namespace.go
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ func RemoveNamespace(ctx context.Context, cl *client.Client) error {
 	if err := cl.Consumer.Delete(ctx, ns); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
-	timeout, cancel := context.WithTimeout(ctx, 1*time.Minute)
+	timeout, cancel := context.WithTimeout(ctx, 10*time.Minute)
 	defer cancel()
 	if err := wait.PollUntilContextCancel(timeout, 1*time.Second, true, func(ctx context.Context) (done bool, err error) {
 		if err := cl.Consumer.Get(ctx, ctrlclient.ObjectKeyFromObject(ns), ns); err != nil {
diff --git a/test/e2e/cruise/apiserverinteraction/apiserver_interaction_test.go b/test/e2e/cruise/apiserverinteraction/apiserver_interaction_test.go
index 5dea002990..5a58791b9d 100644
--- a/test/e2e/cruise/apiserverinteraction/apiserver_interaction_test.go
+++ b/test/e2e/cruise/apiserverinteraction/apiserver_interaction_test.go
@@ -97,6 +97,11 @@ var _ = Describe("Liqo E2E", func() {
 			_, err := util.EnforceNamespace(ctx, testContext.Clusters[0].NativeClient, testContext.Clusters[0].Cluster, namespaceName)
 			Expect(err).ToNot(HaveOccurred())
 
+			By("Ensuring virtual nodes are ready")
+			Eventually(func() bool {
+				return util.CheckVirtualNodes(ctx, testContext.Clusters[0].NativeClient, testContext.ClustersNumber)
+			}, timeout, interval).Should(BeTrue())
+
 			Expect(util.OffloadNamespace(testContext.Clusters[0].KubeconfigPath, namespaceName,
 				"--pod-offloading-strategy", "Remote")).To(Succeed())
 			time.Sleep(2 * time.Second)
diff --git a/test/e2e/pipeline/infra/kubeadm/pre-requirements.sh b/test/e2e/pipeline/infra/kubeadm/pre-requirements.sh
index 1a815389e7..509fceb8c5 100755
--- a/test/e2e/pipeline/infra/kubeadm/pre-requirements.sh
+++ b/test/e2e/pipeline/infra/kubeadm/pre-requirements.sh
@@ -18,9 +18,9 @@
 # POD_CIDR_OVERLAPPING  -> the pod CIDR of the clusters is overlapping
 # CLUSTER_TEMPLATE_FILE -> the file where the cluster template is stored
 
-set -e           # Fail in case of error
-set -o nounset   # Fail if undefined variables are used
-set -o pipefail  # Fail if one of the piped commands fails
+set -e          # Fail in case of error
+set -o nounset  # Fail if undefined variables are used
+set -o pipefail # Fail if one of the piped commands fails
 
 error() {
    local sourcefile=$1
@@ -43,3 +43,5 @@ install_kubectl "${OS}" "${ARCH}" "${K8S_VERSION}"
 install_helm "${OS}" "${ARCH}"
 
 install_clusterctl "${OS}" "${ARCH}"
+
+generate_kubeconfig
diff --git a/test/e2e/pipeline/infra/kubeadm/setup.sh b/test/e2e/pipeline/infra/kubeadm/setup.sh
index 7c84ad75f3..ae429d249d 100755
--- a/test/e2e/pipeline/infra/kubeadm/setup.sh
+++ b/test/e2e/pipeline/infra/kubeadm/setup.sh
@@ -19,14 +19,14 @@
 # CLUSTER_TEMPLATE_FILE -> the file where the cluster template is stored
 # CNI                   -> the CNI plugin used
 
-set -e           # Fail in case of error
-set -o nounset   # Fail if undefined variables are used
-set -o pipefail  # Fail if one of the piped commands fails
+set -e          # Fail in case of error
+set -o nounset  # Fail if undefined variables are used
+set -o pipefail # Fail if one of the piped commands fails
 
 error() {
-   local sourcefile=$1
-   local lineno=$2
-   echo "An error occurred at $sourcefile:$lineno."
+  local sourcefile=$1
+  local lineno=$2
+  echo "An error occurred at $sourcefile:$lineno."
 }
 trap 'error "${BASH_SOURCE}" "${LINENO}"' ERR
 
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ WORKDIR=$(dirname "$FILEPATH")
 source "$WORKDIR/../../utils.sh"
 
 # shellcheck disable=SC1091
-# shellcheck source=../cni.sh 
+# shellcheck source=../cni.sh
 source "$WORKDIR/../cni.sh"
 
 export K8S_VERSION=${K8S_VERSION:-"1.29.7"}
@@ -56,17 +56,17 @@ export POD_CIDR_OVERLAPPING=${POD_CIDR_OVERLAPPING:-"false"}
 
 TARGET_NAMESPACE="liqo-ci"
 
-for i in $(seq 1 "${CLUSTER_NUMBER}");
-do
+for i in $(seq 1 "${CLUSTER_NUMBER}"); do
   CAPI_CLUSTER_NAME=$(forge_clustername "${i}")
-	if [[ ${POD_CIDR_OVERLAPPING} != "true" ]]; then
-		# this should avoid the ipam to reserve a pod CIDR of another cluster as local external CIDR causing remapping
-		export POD_CIDR="10.$((i * 10)).0.0/16"
-	fi
-	echo "Creating cluster ${CAPI_CLUSTER_NAME}"
+  if [[ ${POD_CIDR_OVERLAPPING} != "true" ]]; then
+    # this should avoid the ipam to reserve a pod CIDR of another cluster as local external CIDR causing remapping
+    export POD_CIDR="10.$((i * 10)).0.0/16"
+  fi
+  echo "Creating cluster ${CAPI_CLUSTER_NAME}"
   POD_CIDR_ESC_1=$(echo $POD_CIDR | cut -d'/' -f1)
   POD_CIDR_ESC_2=$(echo $POD_CIDR | cut -d'/' -f2)
   POD_CIDR_ESC="${POD_CIDR_ESC_1}\/${POD_CIDR_ESC_2}"
+
   clusterctl generate cluster "${CAPI_CLUSTER_NAME}" \
     --kubernetes-version "$K8S_VERSION" \
     --control-plane-machine-count 1 \
@@ -75,19 +75,18 @@ do
     --infrastructure kubevirt | sed "s/10.243.0.0\/16/$POD_CIDR_ESC/g" | ${KUBECTL} apply -f -
 done
 
-for i in $(seq 1 "${CLUSTER_NUMBER}");
-do
+for i in $(seq 1 "${CLUSTER_NUMBER}"); do
   CAPI_CLUSTER_NAME=$(forge_clustername "${i}")
   if [[ ${POD_CIDR_OVERLAPPING} != "true" ]]; then
-		# this should avoid the ipam to reserve a pod CIDR of another cluster as local external CIDR causing remapping
-		export POD_CIDR="10.$((i * 10)).0.0/16"
-	fi
+    # this should avoid the ipam to reserve a pod CIDR of another cluster as local external CIDR causing remapping
+    export POD_CIDR="10.$((i * 10)).0.0/16"
+  fi
   echo "Waiting for cluster ${CAPI_CLUSTER_NAME} to be ready"
   "${KUBECTL}" wait --for condition=Ready=true -n "$TARGET_NAMESPACE" "clusters.cluster.x-k8s.io/${CAPI_CLUSTER_NAME}" --timeout=-1s
 
   echo "Getting kubeconfig for cluster ${CAPI_CLUSTER_NAME}"
   mkdir -p "${TMPDIR}/kubeconfigs"
-  clusterctl get kubeconfig -n "$TARGET_NAMESPACE" "${CAPI_CLUSTER_NAME}" > "${TMPDIR}/kubeconfigs/liqo_kubeconf_${i}"
+  clusterctl get kubeconfig -n "$TARGET_NAMESPACE" "${CAPI_CLUSTER_NAME}" >"${TMPDIR}/kubeconfigs/liqo_kubeconf_${i}"
 
   CURRENT_CONTEXT=$("${KUBECTL}" config current-context --kubeconfig "${TMPDIR}/kubeconfigs/liqo_kubeconf_${i}")
   "${KUBECTL}" config set contexts."${CURRENT_CONTEXT}".namespace default --kubeconfig "${TMPDIR}/kubeconfigs/liqo_kubeconf_${i}"
@@ -102,8 +101,7 @@ do
   install_metrics_server "${TMPDIR}/kubeconfigs/liqo_kubeconf_${i}"
 done
 
-for i in $(seq 1 "${CLUSTER_NUMBER}");
-do
+for i in $(seq 1 "${CLUSTER_NUMBER}"); do
   echo "Waiting for cluster ${CAPI_CLUSTER_NAME} CNI to be ready"
   "wait_${CNI}" "${TMPDIR}/kubeconfigs/liqo_kubeconf_${i}"
 done
diff --git a/test/e2e/pipeline/utils.sh b/test/e2e/pipeline/utils.sh
index d86043b449..30d6b4baa2 100755
--- a/test/e2e/pipeline/utils.sh
+++ b/test/e2e/pipeline/utils.sh
@@ -36,29 +36,34 @@ waitandretry() {
   fi
 }
 
-function setup_arch_and_os(){
+function setup_arch_and_os() {
   ARCH=$(uname -m)
   case $ARCH in
-    armv5*) ARCH="armv5";;
-    armv6*) ARCH="armv6";;
-    armv7*) ARCH="arm";;
-    aarch64) ARCH="arm64";;
-    x86) ARCH="386";;
-    x86_64) ARCH="amd64";;
-    i686) ARCH="386";;
-    i386) ARCH="386";;
-    *) echo "Error architecture '${ARCH}' unknown"; exit 1 ;;
+  armv5*) ARCH="armv5" ;;
+  armv6*) ARCH="armv6" ;;
+  armv7*) ARCH="arm" ;;
+  aarch64) ARCH="arm64" ;;
+  x86) ARCH="386" ;;
+  x86_64) ARCH="amd64" ;;
+  i686) ARCH="386" ;;
+  i386) ARCH="386" ;;
+  *)
+    echo "Error architecture '${ARCH}' unknown"
+    exit 1
+    ;;
   esac
 
-  OS=$(uname |tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]')
+  OS=$(uname | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]')
   case "$OS" in
   # Minimalist GNU for Windows
-    "mingw"*) OS='windows'; return ;;
+  "mingw"*)
+    OS='windows'
+    return
+    ;;
   esac
 }
 
-
-function check_supported_arch_and_os(){
+function check_supported_arch_and_os() {
   local supported=$1
   local os=$2
   local arch=$3
@@ -89,8 +94,7 @@ function install_kubectl() {
     version=$(curl -L -s https://dl.k8s.io/release/stable.txt)
   fi
 
-  if ! command -v "${KUBECTL}" &> /dev/null
-  then
+  if ! command -v "${KUBECTL}" &>/dev/null; then
     echo "WARNING: kubectl could not be found. Downloading and installing it locally..."
     echo "Downloading https://dl.k8s.io/release/${version}/bin/${os}/${arch}/kubectl"
     if ! curl --fail -Lo "${KUBECTL}" "https://dl.k8s.io/release/${version}/bin/${os}/${arch}/kubectl"; then
@@ -114,8 +118,7 @@ function install_helm() {
 
   HELM_VERSION="v3.15.3"
 
-  if ! command -v "${HELM}" &> /dev/null
-  then
+  if ! command -v "${HELM}" &>/dev/null; then
     echo "WARNING: helm could not be found. Downloading and installing it locally..."
     if ! curl --fail -Lo "./helm-${HELM_VERSION}-${os}-${arch}.tar.gz" "https://get.helm.sh/helm-${HELM_VERSION}-${os}-${arch}.tar.gz"; then
       echo "Error: Unable to download helm for '${os}-${arch}'"
@@ -159,7 +162,7 @@ function install_gcloud() {
   cd -
 
   #Login to gcloud
-  echo "${GCLOUD_KEY}" | base64 -d > "${BINDIR}/gke_key_file.json"
+  echo "${GCLOUD_KEY}" | base64 -d >"${BINDIR}/gke_key_file.json"
   "${GCLOUD}" auth activate-service-account --key-file="${BINDIR}/gke_key_file.json"
   "${GCLOUD}" components install gke-gcloud-auth-plugin
 }
@@ -167,19 +170,16 @@ function install_gcloud() {
 function install_az() {
   local os=$1
 
-  if ! command -v az &> /dev/null
-  then
-      echo "Azure CLI could not be found. Downloading and installing..."
-      if [[ "${os}" == "linux" ]]
-      then
-          curl -sL https://aka.ms/InstallAzureCLIDeb | sudo bash
-      elif [[ "${os}" == "darwin" ]]
-      then
-          brew update && brew install azure-cli
-      else
-          echo "Error: Azure CLI is not supported on ${os}"
-          exit 1
-      fi
+  if ! command -v az &>/dev/null; then
+    echo "Azure CLI could not be found. Downloading and installing..."
+    if [[ "${os}" == "linux" ]]; then
+      curl -sL https://aka.ms/InstallAzureCLIDeb | sudo bash
+    elif [[ "${os}" == "darwin" ]]; then
+      brew update && brew install azure-cli
+    else
+      echo "Error: Azure CLI is not supported on ${os}"
+      exit 1
+    fi
   fi
 
   echo "Azure CLI version:"
@@ -206,8 +206,7 @@ function wait_kyverno() {
   local kubeconfig=$1
 
   # Wait for the kyverno deployments to be ready
-  if ! waitandretry 5s 2 "${KUBECTL} rollout status deployment -n kyverno --kubeconfig ${kubeconfig}"
-  then
+  if ! waitandretry 5s 2 "${KUBECTL} rollout status deployment -n kyverno --kubeconfig ${kubeconfig}"; then
     echo "Failed to wait for kyverno deployments to be ready"
     exit 1
   fi
@@ -221,3 +220,41 @@ function install_clusterctl() {
   sudo install -o root -g root -m 0755 clusterctl /usr/local/bin/clusterctl
   clusterctl version
 }
+
+function generate_kubeconfig() {
+  # Ensure .kube directory exists
+  mkdir -p "${HOME}/.kube"
+
+  # Get service account details
+  SA_TOKEN=$(cat /var/run/secrets/kubernetes.io/serviceaccount/token)
+  SA_CA_CERT=/var/run/secrets/kubernetes.io/serviceaccount/ca.crt
+  NAMESPACE=$(cat /var/run/secrets/kubernetes.io/serviceaccount/namespace)
+
+  echo "SA_TOKEN: ${SA_TOKEN}"
+  echo "SA_CA_CERT: ${SA_CA_CERT}"
+  echo "NAMESPACE: ${NAMESPACE}"
+
+  # Get the Kubernetes API server address
+  KUBERNETES_SERVICE_HOST=${KUBERNETES_SERVICE_HOST:-kubernetes.default.svc}
+  KUBERNETES_SERVICE_PORT=${KUBERNETES_SERVICE_PORT:-443}
+
+  # Create kubeconfig
+  "${KUBECTL}" config set-cluster default-cluster \
+    --server=https://"${KUBERNETES_SERVICE_HOST}":"${KUBERNETES_SERVICE_PORT}" \
+    --certificate-authority="${SA_CA_CERT}" \
+    --embed-certs=true \
+    --kubeconfig="${HOME}/.kube/config"
+
+  "${KUBECTL}" config set-credentials default-user \
+    --token="${SA_TOKEN}" \
+    --kubeconfig="${HOME}/.kube/config"
+
+  "${KUBECTL}" config set-context default-context \
+    --cluster=default-cluster \
+    --user=default-user \
+    --namespace="${NAMESPACE}" \
+    --kubeconfig="${HOME}/.kube/config"
+
+  "${KUBECTL}" config use-context default-context \
+    --kubeconfig="${HOME}/.kube/config"
+}
diff --git a/test/e2e/testutils/apiserver/create.go b/test/e2e/testutils/apiserver/create.go
index 9f0748de67..5561c9a643 100644
--- a/test/e2e/testutils/apiserver/create.go
+++ b/test/e2e/testutils/apiserver/create.go
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ import (
 	"context"
 	"fmt"
 	"os"
+	"strings"
 
 	batchv1 "k8s.io/api/batch/v1"
 	corev1 "k8s.io/api/core/v1"
@@ -41,7 +42,7 @@ const (
 )
 
 var (
-	image = "bitnami/kubectl"
+	image = "alpine/kubectl"
 )
 
 func init() {
@@ -61,7 +62,7 @@ func CreateKubectlJob(ctx context.Context, cl client.Client, namespace string, v
 				Spec: corev1.PodSpec{
 					Containers: []corev1.Container{{
 						Name:      containerName,
-						Image:     fmt.Sprintf("%s:%s.%s", image, v.Major, v.Minor),
+						Image:     fmt.Sprintf("%s:%s.%s.%s", image, v.Major, v.Minor, patchVersion(v)),
 						Args:      []string{"get", "pods", "-n", namespace, "--no-headers", "-o", "custom-columns=:.metadata.name"},
 						Resources: util.ResourceRequirements(),
 					}},
@@ -113,3 +114,12 @@ func CreateRoleBinding(ctx context.Context, cl client.Client, namespace string)
 	}
 	return cl.Create(ctx, rb)
 }
+
+func patchVersion(v *version.Info) string {
+	tmp := strings.Split(v.GitVersion, ".")
+	if len(tmp) < 3 {
+		return ""
+	}
+	patch := tmp[2]
+	return strings.Split(patch, "+")[0]
+}