diff --git a/tests/e2e/go.mod b/tests/e2e/go.mod
index 0a704fa306..4ce8406ffd 100644
--- a/tests/e2e/go.mod
+++ b/tests/e2e/go.mod
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ require (
 	github.com/google/shlex v0.0.0-20191202100458-e7afc7fbc510
 	github.com/octago/sflags v0.2.0
 	github.com/spf13/pflag v1.0.5
+	golang.org/x/crypto v0.0.0-20211215153901-e495a2d5b3d3
 	k8s.io/api v0.23.5
 	k8s.io/apimachinery v0.23.5
 	k8s.io/client-go v9.0.0+incompatible
@@ -122,7 +123,6 @@ require (
 	github.com/xanzy/ssh-agent v0.3.1 // indirect
 	go.opencensus.io v0.23.0 // indirect
 	go.uber.org/atomic v1.9.0 // indirect
-	golang.org/x/crypto v0.0.0-20211215153901-e495a2d5b3d3 // indirect
 	golang.org/x/net v0.0.0-20220225172249-27dd8689420f // indirect
 	golang.org/x/oauth2 v0.0.0-20211104180415-d3ed0bb246c8 // indirect
 	golang.org/x/sync v0.0.0-20210220032951-036812b2e83c // indirect
diff --git a/tests/e2e/kubetest2-kops/deployer/common.go b/tests/e2e/kubetest2-kops/deployer/common.go
index 29b69943bc..fc03d86e0f 100644
--- a/tests/e2e/kubetest2-kops/deployer/common.go
+++ b/tests/e2e/kubetest2-kops/deployer/common.go
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ import (
 	"k8s.io/kops/tests/e2e/kubetest2-kops/gce"
 	"k8s.io/kops/tests/e2e/pkg/kops"
 	"k8s.io/kops/tests/e2e/pkg/target"
+	"k8s.io/kops/tests/e2e/pkg/util"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/kubetest2/pkg/boskos"
 )
 
@@ -66,13 +67,13 @@ func (d *deployer) initialize() error {
 
 	switch d.CloudProvider {
 	case "aws":
-		// These environment variables are defined by the "preset-aws-ssh" prow preset
-		// https://github.com/kubernetes/test-infra/blob/3d3b325c98b739b526ba5d93ce21c90a05e1f46d/config/prow/config.yaml#L653-L670
-		if d.SSHPrivateKeyPath == "" {
-			d.SSHPrivateKeyPath = os.Getenv("AWS_SSH_PRIVATE_KEY_FILE")
-		}
-		if d.SSHPublicKeyPath == "" {
-			d.SSHPublicKeyPath = os.Getenv("AWS_SSH_PUBLIC_KEY_FILE")
+		if d.SSHPrivateKeyPath == "" || d.SSHPublicKeyPath == "" {
+			publicKeyPath, privateKeyPath, err := util.CreateSSHKeyPair(d.ClusterName)
+			if err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+			d.SSHPublicKeyPath = publicKeyPath
+			d.SSHPrivateKeyPath = privateKeyPath
 		}
 	case "digitalocean":
 		if d.SSHPrivateKeyPath == "" {
@@ -185,6 +186,9 @@ func (d *deployer) env() []string {
 				vars = append(vars, k+"="+v)
 			}
 		}
+		// Recognized by the e2e framework
+		// https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/blob/a750d8054a6cb3167f495829ce3e77ab0ccca48e/test/e2e/framework/ssh/ssh.go#L59-L62
+		vars = append(vars, fmt.Sprintf("KUBE_SSH_KEY_PATH=%v", d.SSHPrivateKeyPath))
 	} else if d.CloudProvider == "digitalocean" {
 		// Pass through some env vars if set
 		for _, k := range []string{"DIGITALOCEAN_ACCESS_TOKEN", "S3_ACCESS_KEY_ID", "S3_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY"} {
diff --git a/tests/e2e/pkg/util/pki.go b/tests/e2e/pkg/util/pki.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..48deb7e848
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/e2e/pkg/util/pki.go
@@ -0,0 +1,91 @@
+/*
+Copyright 2022 The Kubernetes Authors.
+
+Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+limitations under the License.
+*/
+
+package util
+
+import (
+	"crypto/ed25519"
+	"crypto/x509"
+	"encoding/pem"
+	"errors"
+	"fmt"
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+
+	"golang.org/x/crypto/ssh"
+)
+
+// CreateSSHKeyPair creates a key pair in a temp directory
+// and returns the paths to the private and public keys respectively.
+// The file paths are deterministic from the clusterName.
+func CreateSSHKeyPair(clusterName string) (string, string, error) {
+	_, privateKey, err := ed25519.GenerateKey(nil)
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", "", err
+	}
+	publicKey, err := ssh.NewPublicKey(privateKey.Public())
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", "", err
+	}
+
+	publicKeyContents := ssh.MarshalAuthorizedKey(publicKey)
+
+	user := os.Getenv("USER")
+	if user == "" {
+		user = "user"
+	}
+	comment := fmt.Sprintf(" %v\n", user)
+
+	// AWS requires a comment on the SSH public key but MarshalAuthorizedKey doesn't create one
+	publicKeyContents = publicKeyContents[:len(publicKeyContents)-1]
+	publicKeyContents = append(publicKeyContents, []byte(comment)...)
+
+	privateKeyContents, err := x509.MarshalPKCS8PrivateKey(privateKey)
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", "", err
+	}
+
+	tmp := os.TempDir()
+	dir := filepath.Join(tmp, "kops", clusterName)
+	err = os.MkdirAll(dir, 0700)
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", "", err
+	}
+
+	publicKeyPath := filepath.Join(dir, "id_ed25519.pub")
+	privateKeyPath := filepath.Join(dir, "id_ed25519")
+
+	if _, err := os.Stat(privateKeyPath); errors.Is(err, os.ErrNotExist) {
+		if err := os.WriteFile(publicKeyPath, publicKeyContents, 0644); err != nil {
+			return "", "", err
+		}
+		f, err := os.OpenFile(privateKeyPath, os.O_WRONLY|os.O_CREATE, 0600)
+		if err != nil {
+			return "", "", err
+		}
+		defer f.Close()
+
+		err = pem.Encode(f, &pem.Block{
+			Type:  "PRIVATE KEY",
+			Bytes: privateKeyContents,
+		})
+		if err != nil {
+			return "", "", err
+		}
+	}
+
+	return publicKeyPath, privateKeyPath, nil
+}