diff --git a/test/e2e_node/gcloud/gcloud.go b/test/e2e_node/gcloud/gcloud.go
index d073bc981a..dbf3ec35c3 100644
--- a/test/e2e_node/gcloud/gcloud.go
+++ b/test/e2e_node/gcloud/gcloud.go
@@ -37,7 +37,9 @@ var freePortRegexp = regexp.MustCompile(".+:([0-9]+)")
 type TearDown func()
 
 type GCloudClient interface {
-	CopyAndWaitTillHealthy(sudo bool, remotePort string, timeout time.Duration, healthUrl string, bin string, args ...string) (*CmdHandle, error)
+	CopyAndWaitTillHealthy(
+		sudo bool, copyBin bool, remotePort string,
+		timeout time.Duration, healthUrl string, bin string, args ...string) (*CmdHandle, error)
 }
 
 type gCloudClientImpl struct {
@@ -99,7 +101,9 @@ func (gc *gCloudClientImpl) CopyToHost(from string, to string) ([]byte, error) {
 	return exec.Command("gcloud", args...).CombinedOutput()
 }
 
-func (gc *gCloudClientImpl) CopyAndRun(sudo bool, remotePort string, bin string, args ...string) *CmdHandle {
+func (gc *gCloudClientImpl) CopyAndRun(
+	sudo bool, copyBin bool, remotePort string, bin string, args ...string) *CmdHandle {
+
 	h := &CmdHandle{}
 	h.Output = make(chan RunResult)
 
@@ -108,7 +112,10 @@ func (gc *gCloudClientImpl) CopyAndRun(sudo bool, remotePort string, bin string,
 	// Define where we will copy the temp binary
 	tDir := fmt.Sprintf("/tmp/gcloud-e2e-%d", rand.Int31())
 	_, f := filepath.Split(bin)
-	cmd := filepath.Join(tDir, f)
+	cmd := f
+	if copyBin {
+		cmd = filepath.Join(tDir, f)
+	}
 	h.LPort = getLocalPort()
 
 	h.TearDown = func() {
@@ -133,11 +140,13 @@ func (gc *gCloudClientImpl) CopyAndRun(sudo bool, remotePort string, bin string,
 	}
 
 	// Copy the binary
-	out, err = gc.CopyToHost(bin, tDir)
-	if err != nil {
-		glog.Errorf("copy-files failed %v", err)
-		h.Output <- RunResult{out, err, fmt.Sprintf("copy-files %s %s", bin, tDir)}
-		return h
+	if copyBin {
+		out, err = gc.CopyToHost(bin, tDir)
+		if err != nil {
+			glog.Errorf("copy-files failed %v", err)
+			h.Output <- RunResult{out, err, fmt.Sprintf("copy-files %s %s", bin, tDir)}
+			return h
+		}
 	}
 
 	// Do the setup
@@ -154,9 +163,9 @@ func (gc *gCloudClientImpl) CopyAndRun(sudo bool, remotePort string, bin string,
 }
 
 func (gc *gCloudClientImpl) CopyAndWaitTillHealthy(
-	sudo bool,
+	sudo bool, copyBin bool,
 	remotePort string, timeout time.Duration, healthUrl string, bin string, args ...string) (*CmdHandle, error) {
-	h := gc.CopyAndRun(sudo, remotePort, bin, args...)
+	h := gc.CopyAndRun(sudo, copyBin, remotePort, bin, args...)
 	eTime := time.Now().Add(timeout)
 	done := false
 	for eTime.After(time.Now()) && !done {
diff --git a/test/e2e_node/runner/run_e2e.go b/test/e2e_node/runner/run_e2e.go
index b4f4fc2519..c74216d157 100644
--- a/test/e2e_node/runner/run_e2e.go
+++ b/test/e2e_node/runner/run_e2e.go
@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@ See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 limitations under the License.
 */
 
+// To run the e2e tests against one or more hosts on gce: $ go run run_e2e.go --hosts <comma separated hosts>
+// Requires gcloud compute ssh access to the hosts
 package main
 
 import (
@@ -114,8 +116,8 @@ func WaitForUser() {
 func runTests(host string) ([]byte, error) {
 	c := gcloud.NewGCloudClient(host, *zone)
 	// TODO(pwittrock): Come up with something better for bootstrapping the environment.
-	etcdBin := filepath.Join(kubeRoot, "third_party/etcd/etcd")
-	eh, err := c.CopyAndWaitTillHealthy(false, "4001", healthyTimeoutDuration, "v2/keys/", etcdBin)
+	eh, err := c.CopyAndWaitTillHealthy(
+		false, false, "4001", healthyTimeoutDuration, "v2/keys/", "etcd", "--data-dir", "./")
 	defer func() { eh.TearDown() }()
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("Host %s failed to run command %v", host, err)
@@ -123,7 +125,7 @@ func runTests(host string) ([]byte, error) {
 
 	apiBin := filepath.Join(kubeRoot, *kubeOutputRelPath, "kube-apiserver")
 	ah, err := c.CopyAndWaitTillHealthy(
-		true, "8080", healthyTimeoutDuration, "healthz", apiBin, "--service-cluster-ip-range",
+		true, true, "8080", healthyTimeoutDuration, "healthz", apiBin, "--service-cluster-ip-range",
 		"10.0.0.1/24", "--insecure-bind-address", "0.0.0.0", "--etcd-servers", "http://localhost:4001",
 		"--cluster-name", "kubernetes", "--v", "2", "--kubelet-port", "10250")
 	defer func() { ah.TearDown() }()
@@ -133,7 +135,7 @@ func runTests(host string) ([]byte, error) {
 
 	kubeletBin := filepath.Join(kubeRoot, *kubeOutputRelPath, "kubelet")
 	kh, err := c.CopyAndWaitTillHealthy(
-		true, "4194", healthyTimeoutDuration, "healthz", kubeletBin, "--api-servers", "http://localhost:8080",
+		true, true, "10255", healthyTimeoutDuration, "healthz", kubeletBin, "--api-servers", "http://localhost:8080",
 		"--logtostderr", "--address", "0.0.0.0", "--port", "10250")
 	defer func() { kh.TearDown() }()
 	if err != nil {