diff --git a/utils/run-tests.sh b/utils/run-tests.sh
index 042a47bc29..124fe42829 100755
--- a/utils/run-tests.sh
+++ b/utils/run-tests.sh
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ optional arguments:
   -e              force recreation of the virtual environment
   -i IMAGE        select image to run the tests (default: fedora-latest)
   -m MEMORY       container memory, in GiB (default: 3)
+  -p INTERPRETER  Python interpreter to use on target container
   -s TEST_SUITE   run all playbooks for test suite, which is a directory
                   under ${WHITE}tests${RST}
   -v              Increase Ansible verbosity (can be used multiple times)
@@ -66,12 +67,12 @@ GROUP=1
 SPLITS=0
 ANSIBLE_COLLECTIONS=${ANSIBLE_COLLECTIONS:-"${engine_collection}"}
 SKIP_ANSIBLE=""
-
+ansible_interpreter="/usr/bin/python3"
 EXTRA_OPTIONS=""
 
 # Process command options
 
-while getopts ":haA:c:ei:Klm:s:vx" option
+while getopts ":haA:c:ei:Klm:p:s:vx" option
 do
     case "$option" in
         h) help && exit 0 ;;
@@ -92,6 +93,7 @@ do
         K) STOP_CONTAINER="N" ;;
         l) "${SCRIPTDIR}"/setup_test_container.sh -l && exit 0 || exit 1 ;;
         m) MEMORY="${OPTARG}" ;;
+	p) ansible_interpreter="$OPTARG" ;;
         s)
            [ ${SPLITS} -ne 0 ] && die -u "Can't use '-A' with '-s'"
            if [ -d "${TOPDIR}/tests/${OPTARG}" ]
@@ -125,7 +127,7 @@ export STOP_CONTAINER FORCE_ENV STOP_VIRTUALENV
 [ ${SPLITS} -eq 0 ] && [ ${#ENABLED_MODULES[@]} -eq 0 ] && [ ${#ENABLED_TESTS[@]} -eq 0 ] && die -u "No test defined."
 
 # Ensure $python is set.
-[ -z "${python}" ] && python="python3"
+[ -z "${python}" ] && python="/usr/bin/python3"
 
 log info "Controller python executable: ${python}"
 ${python} --version
@@ -136,7 +138,7 @@ log info "Installing dependencies from 'requirements-tests.txt'"
 pip install --upgrade -r "${TOPDIR}/requirements-tests.txt"
 
 # shellcheck disable=SC2119
-[ -z "SKIP_ANSIBLE" ] || install_ansible
+[ -z "SKIP_ANSIBLE" ] && install_ansible
 
 # Ansible configuration
 export ANSIBLE_ROLES_PATH="${TOPDIR}/roles"
@@ -144,7 +146,7 @@ export ANSIBLE_LIBRARY="${TOPDIR}/plugins"
 export ANSIBLE_MODULE_UTILS="${TOPDIR}/plugins/module_utils"
 
 # start_container
-"${SCRIPTDIR}/setup_test_container.sh" -e "${engine}" -m "${MEMORY}" -i "${IMAGE_TAG}" -n "${HOSTNAME}" "${scenario}"
+"${SCRIPTDIR}/setup_test_container.sh" -e "${engine}" -m "${MEMORY}" -p "${ansible_interpreter}" -i "${IMAGE_TAG}" -n "${HOSTNAME}" "${scenario}"
 
 
 # run tests
diff --git a/utils/setup_test_container.sh b/utils/setup_test_container.sh
index 938e16bc61..20081fd8a7 100755
--- a/utils/setup_test_container.sh
+++ b/utils/setup_test_container.sh
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ Options:
   -m MEMORY       set container memory, in GiB (default: 3)
   -n HOSTNAME     set the hostname in the container
                   (default: ipaserver.test.local)
+  -p INTERPRETER  Python interpreter to use on target container
 EOF
 )"
 }
@@ -48,8 +49,9 @@ IMAGE_TAG="fedora-latest"
 MEMORY="${MEMORY:-3}"
 HOSTNAME="${HOSTNAME:-ipaserver.test.local}"
 test_env="${test_env:-/tmp}"
+ansible_interpreter="/usr/bin/python3"
 
-while getopts ":he:i:lm:n:" option
+while getopts ":he:i:lm:n:p:" option
 do
     case "$option" in
         h) help && exit 0 ;;
@@ -58,6 +60,7 @@ do
         l) list_images && exit 0 || exit 1;;
         m) MEMORY="${OPTARG}" ;;
 	n) HOSTNAME="${OPTARG}" ;;
+	p) ansible_interpreter="${OPTARG}" ;;
         *) die -u "Invalid option: ${OPTARG}" ;;
     esac
 done
@@ -67,8 +70,9 @@ shift $((OPTIND - 1))
 scenario="${1}"
 shift
 
-make_inventory "${scenario}" "${engine:-podman}"
-
+make_inventory "${scenario}" "${engine:-podman}" "${ansible_interpreter:-"/usr/bin/python3"}"
+log info "Inventory path: [${inventory}]"
+log debug "$(cat "${inventory}")"
 prepare_container "${scenario}" "${IMAGE_TAG}"
 start_container "${scenario}"
 
diff --git a/utils/shansible b/utils/shansible
index 59bd620a2b..15ab95f5dd 100644
--- a/utils/shansible
+++ b/utils/shansible
@@ -37,13 +37,15 @@ run_inline_playbook() {
 }
 
 make_inventory() {
-    local scenario=$1
-    local pod_engine="${engine:-${2:-"podman"}}"
+    local scenario pod_engine interpreter
+    scenario="$1"
+    pod_engine="${2:-${engine:-"podman"}}"
+    ansible_interpreter="${3:-${ansible_interpreter:-"/usr/bin/python3"}}"
     export inventory="${test_env:-"/tmp"}/inventory-${scenario}"
     log info "Inventory file: ${inventory}"
     cat << EOF > "${inventory}"
 [ipaserver]
-${scenario} ansible_connection=${pod_engine} ansible_python_interpreter=/usr/bin/python3
+${scenario} ansible_connection=${pod_engine} ansible_python_interpreter=${ansible_interpreter}
 [ipaserver:vars]
 ipaserver_domain = test.local
 ipaserver_realm = TEST.LOCAL
diff --git a/utils/shcontainer b/utils/shcontainer
index 1ed23c797b..6112c9819c 100644
--- a/utils/shcontainer
+++ b/utils/shcontainer
@@ -37,15 +37,17 @@ prepare_container() {
         # shellcheck disable=SC2086
         container_id=$(${engine} create ${CONFIG} "${img_id}" || die "Cannot create container")
         log none "CONTAINER: ${container_id}"
+    else
+	log warn "Using existing container: ${container_id}"
     fi
     export scenario="${scenario:-$(${engine} ps -q --format "{{.Names}}" --filter "id=${container_id}" "${container_status[@]}")}"
-    log debug "Prepared container: ${scenario}"
+    log debug "Container ready: ${scenario}"
 }
 
 start_container() {
     local scenario="${1:-${scenario}}"
     log info "Starting container for ${scenario}..."
-    quiet "${engine}" start "${scenario}"
+    "${engine}" start "${scenario}" >/dev/null || die "Failed to start container: ${scenario}"
     # With docker on Ubuntu, it might take a couple of seconds
     # for the container to be available.
     sleep 3