diff --git a/test/e2e/files/Vagrantfile.in b/test/e2e/files/Vagrantfile.in
index d85e54592..e5aea5e0f 100644
--- a/test/e2e/files/Vagrantfile.in
+++ b/test/e2e/files/Vagrantfile.in
@@ -16,10 +16,10 @@ N = 1
 
 CRI_RUNTIME = "#{ENV['k8scri']}"
 CRIO_SRC = ""
-CONTAINERD_SRC = ""
+CONTAINERD_VERSION = ""
 
 if CRI_RUNTIME == "containerd"
-  CONTAINERD_SRC = "#{ENV['containerd_src']}"
+  CONTAINERD_VERSION = "#{ENV['containerd_version']}"
 else
   CRIO_SRC = "#{ENV['crio_src']}"
 end
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ Vagrant.configure("2") do |config|
       http_proxy: "#{ENV['HTTP_PROXY']}",
       no_proxy: "#{ENV['NO_PROXY']}",
       cri_runtime: CRI_RUNTIME,
-      containerd_src: CONTAINERD_SRC,
+      containerd_version: CONTAINERD_VERSION,
       crio_src: CRIO_SRC,
       nri_resource_policy_src: NRI_RESOURCE_POLICY_SRC,
       outdir: OUTPUT_DIR,
diff --git a/test/e2e/files/containerd.service b/test/e2e/files/containerd.service
index e1c80c118..e4c082b3a 100644
--- a/test/e2e/files/containerd.service
+++ b/test/e2e/files/containerd.service
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ After=network.target local-fs.target
 
 [Service]
 ExecStartPre=-/sbin/modprobe overlay
-ExecStart=/usr/bin/containerd
+ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/containerd
 
 Type=notify
 Delegate=yes
diff --git a/test/e2e/files/crio.service b/test/e2e/files/crio.service
index 3df93ddb9..41d6d1310 100644
--- a/test/e2e/files/crio.service
+++ b/test/e2e/files/crio.service
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ Documentation=https://cri-o.io
 After=network.target
 
 [Service]
-ExecStart=/usr/bin/crio
+ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/crio
 
 Delegate=yes
 KillMode=process
diff --git a/test/e2e/playbook/provision.yaml b/test/e2e/playbook/provision.yaml
index 184a7f14b..9fe3c1401 100644
--- a/test/e2e/playbook/provision.yaml
+++ b/test/e2e/playbook/provision.yaml
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@
     - cri_runtime: "{{ cri_runtime }}"
     - is_containerd: false
     - is_crio: false
+    - containerd_version: "{{ containerd_version }}"
+    - containerd_url: https://github.com/containerd/containerd/releases/download
 
   tasks:
     - set_fact:
@@ -119,22 +121,18 @@
           - tomli_w
         state: present
 
-    # We need quite recent containerd that has NRI support so use the one
-    # that is compiled from sources.
-    - name: copy containerd sources
-      copy: src="{{ item }}" dest="/usr/bin" mode=0755
-      with_items:
-        - "{{ containerd_src }}/bin/ctr"
-        - "{{ containerd_src }}/bin/containerd"
-        - "{{ containerd_src }}/bin/containerd-shim"
-        - "{{ containerd_src }}/bin/containerd-shim-runc-v1"
-        - "{{ containerd_src }}/bin/containerd-shim-runc-v2"
+    # Install a recent enough (>= 1.7.x) containerd from release tarball to /usr/local.
+    - name: Install containerd binaries from release tarball
+      ansible.builtin.unarchive:
+        src: "{{ containerd_url }}/v{{ containerd_version }}/containerd-{{ containerd_version }}-linux-amd64.tar.gz"
+        dest: /usr/local
+        remote_src: yes
       when: is_containerd
 
     # We need quite recent cri-o that has NRI support so use the one
     # that is compiled from sources.
     - name: copy cri-o sources
-      copy: src="{{ item }}" dest="/usr/bin" mode=0755
+      copy: src="{{ item }}" dest="/usr/local/bin" mode=0755
       with_items:
         - "{{ crio_src }}/bin/crio"
         - "{{ crio_src }}/bin/crio-status"
diff --git a/test/e2e/run.sh b/test/e2e/run.sh
index 32813e335..2ca223e63 100755
--- a/test/e2e/run.sh
+++ b/test/e2e/run.sh
@@ -47,10 +47,12 @@ else
     k8scri_sock="/var/run/crio/crio.sock"
 fi
 
-# Assume containerd sources are found in parent dir of this repo.
-# If that is not the case, set containerd_src when calling the e2e script.
-# Same for cri-o if using that.
-export containerd_src=${containerd_src:-"$SRC_DIR"/../containerd}
+# If we run tests with containerd as the runtime, this is the version
+# of containerd we'll fetch and install from a release tarball.
+export containerd_version=1.7.6
+
+# Assume cri-o sources are found in parent dir of this repo.
+# If that is not the case, set crio_src when calling the e2e script.
 export crio_src=${crio_src:-"$SRC_DIR"/../cri-o}
 
 # Default topology if not given. The run_tests.sh script will figure out
@@ -102,7 +104,7 @@ echo "    Output dir      = $OUTPUT_DIR"
 echo "    Test output dir = $TEST_OUTPUT_DIR"
 echo "    NRI dir         = $nri_resource_policy_src"
 if [ "$k8scri" == "containerd" ]; then
-    echo "    Containerd dir  = $containerd_src"
+    echo "    Containerd      = $containerd_version"
 else
     echo "    CRI-O dir       = $crio_src"
 fi