diff --git a/tests/e2e/scenarios/lib/common.sh b/tests/e2e/scenarios/lib/common.sh
index d4bc9fd620..cdaa37c1aa 100644
--- a/tests/e2e/scenarios/lib/common.sh
+++ b/tests/e2e/scenarios/lib/common.sh
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ fi
 
 export KOPS_BASE_URL
 export KOPS
+export CHANNELS
 
 export KOPS_FEATURE_FLAGS="SpecOverrideFlag"
 export KOPS_RUN_TOO_NEW_VERSION=1
@@ -91,6 +92,14 @@ function kops-download-from-base() {
     echo "${kops}"
 }
 
+function kops-channels-download-from-base() {
+    local channels
+    channels=$(mktemp -t channels.XXXXXXXXX)
+    wget -qO "${channels}" "$KOPS_BASE_URL/$(go env GOOS)/$(go env GOARCH)/channels"
+    chmod +x "${channels}"
+    echo "${channels}"
+}
+
 function kops-base-from-marker() {
     if [[ "${1}" =~ ^https: ]]; then
         echo "${1}"
@@ -106,12 +115,14 @@ function kops-acquire-latest() {
     if [[ "${JOB_TYPE-}" == "periodic" ]]; then
         KOPS_BASE_URL="$(curl -s https://storage.googleapis.com/kops-ci/bin/latest-ci-updown-green.txt)"
         KOPS=$(kops-download-from-base)
+        CHANNELS=$(kops-channels-download-from-base)
     else
          if [[ -n "${KOPS_BASE_URL-}" ]]; then
             KOPS_BASE_URL=""
          fi
          $KUBETEST2 --build
          KOPS="${REPO_ROOT}/.build/dist/linux/amd64/kops"
+         CHANNELS="${REPO_ROOT}/.build/dist/linux/amd64/channels"
          KOPS_BASE_URL=$(cat "${REPO_ROOT}/.kubetest2/kops-base-url")
          export KOPS_BASE_URL
          echo "KOPS_BASE_URL=$KOPS_BASE_URL"
diff --git a/tests/e2e/scenarios/upgrade-ab/run-test.sh b/tests/e2e/scenarios/upgrade-ab/run-test.sh
index f40512e79a..17e5ae08d0 100755
--- a/tests/e2e/scenarios/upgrade-ab/run-test.sh
+++ b/tests/e2e/scenarios/upgrade-ab/run-test.sh
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ else
   KOPS_BASE_URL=$(kops-base-from-marker "${KOPS_VERSION_B}")
   KOPS_BASE_URL_B="${KOPS_BASE_URL}"
   KOPS_B=$(kops-download-from-base)
+  CHANNELS=$(kops-channels-download-from-base)
 fi
 
 ${KUBETEST2} \
@@ -92,6 +93,8 @@ kubectl get nodes -owide --kubeconfig "${KUBECONFIG_A}"
 # Sleep to ensure channels has done its thing
 sleep 60s
 
+${CHANNELS} apply channel "$KOPS_STATE_STORE"/"${CLUSTER_NAME}"/addons/bootstrap-channel.yaml --yes -v4
+
 "${KOPS_B}" rolling-update cluster
 "${KOPS_B}" rolling-update cluster --yes --validation-timeout 30m