diff --git a/install/k8s/cluster/k8smaster_centos.sh b/install/k8s/cluster/k8smaster_centos.sh
index 41b52eec4..ce1ccc051 100644
--- a/install/k8s/cluster/k8smaster_centos.sh
+++ b/install/k8s/cluster/k8smaster_centos.sh
@@ -8,7 +8,11 @@ if [ ! -z "$CONTIV_TEST" ]; then
     chmod 0644 /etc/kubernetes/admin.conf
     cd /opt/gopath/src/github.com/contiv/netplugin/install/k8s/contiv/
     ./contiv-compose add-systest ./base.yaml > /shared/contiv.yaml
+    # remove kube-dns
+    # TODO: enable kube-dns
+    kubectl delete deployment -n kube-system kube-dns
 else
     cp /opt/gopath/src/github.com/contiv/netplugin/install/k8s/contiv/base.yaml /shared/contiv.yaml
 fi
+
 kubectl apply -f /shared/contiv.yaml
diff --git a/install/k8s/contiv/contiv-compose b/install/k8s/contiv/contiv-compose
index 87213d456..ee33fa725 100755
--- a/install/k8s/contiv/contiv-compose
+++ b/install/k8s/contiv/contiv-compose
@@ -30,10 +30,7 @@ class ContivComposer(object):
                                             'CONTIV_NETMASTER_ETCD_ENDPOINTS')
                     ]
                     # make the container idle
-                    container['command'] = ["/bin/sh", "-c"]
-                    container['args'] = [
-                        'cp /contiv/bin/contivk8s /opt/cni/bin/contivk8s && tail -f /dev/null'
-                    ]
+                    container['command'] = ["tail", "-f", "/dev/null"]
                     # add binary mount points to run tests
                     container['volumeMounts'].append({
                         'mountPath': '/contiv/bin',
diff --git a/test/systemtests/kubeadm_test.go b/test/systemtests/kubeadm_test.go
index 4d343b99b..1338e4a0e 100755
--- a/test/systemtests/kubeadm_test.go
+++ b/test/systemtests/kubeadm_test.go
@@ -494,6 +494,9 @@ func (k *kubePod) startNetplugin(args string) error {
 	}
 
 	logrus.Infof("Starting netplugin on %s", k.node.Name())
+	copyContivK8SCmd := `cp /contiv/bin/contivk8s /opt/cni/bin/contivk8s`
+	k.exec(podName, copyContivK8SCmd, "kube-system")
+
 	startNetpluginCmd := (k.node.suite.basicInfo.BinPath + `/netplugin --vlan-if=` +
 		k.node.suite.hostInfo.HostDataInterfaces + k.commonArgs() + args + ` > ` + netpluginLogLocation + ` 2>&1`)