diff --git a/internal/test/e2e/ecr.go b/internal/test/e2e/ecr.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..9738ba09e7a2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/test/e2e/ecr.go
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+package e2e
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+
+	"github.com/go-logr/logr"
+
+	"github.com/aws/eks-anywhere/internal/pkg/ssm"
+)
+
+func (e *E2ESession) loginToPublicECR() error {
+	e.logger.V(1).Info("Logging in to public ECR")
+
+	command := "aws ecr-public get-login-password --region us-east-1 | docker login --username AWS --password-stdin public.ecr.aws"
+	if err := ssm.Run(e.session, logr.Discard(), e.instanceId, command, ssmTimeout); err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("sign in to public ecr: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	e.logger.V(1).Info("Logged in to public ECR")
+
+	return nil
+}
diff --git a/internal/test/e2e/setup.go b/internal/test/e2e/setup.go
index 554d4c98f995..27d1f1aa58ff 100644
--- a/internal/test/e2e/setup.go
+++ b/internal/test/e2e/setup.go
@@ -178,6 +178,11 @@ func (e *E2ESession) setup(regex string) error {
 		return err
 	}
 
+	err = e.loginToPublicECR()
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
 	ipPool := e.ipPool.ToString()
 	if ipPool != "" {
 		e.testEnvVars[e2etests.ClusterIPPoolEnvVar] = ipPool