diff --git a/podman2minikube.sh b/podman2minikube.sh
index 11bad93aa..d0a697cea 100755
--- a/podman2minikube.sh
+++ b/podman2minikube.sh
@@ -7,6 +7,12 @@
 # well.
 #
 
+# no need to ssh-copy images if there is no VM
+if [[ "${VM_DRIVER}" == "none" ]] || [[ "${VM_DRIVER}" == "podman" ]]
+then
+    exit 0
+fi
+
 # fail when a command returns an error
 set -e -o pipefail
 
diff --git a/single-node-k8s.sh b/single-node-k8s.sh
index 729c89a16..1f6904cec 100755
--- a/single-node-k8s.sh
+++ b/single-node-k8s.sh
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ function set_env() {
     CSI_IMAGE_VERSION=${CSI_IMAGE_VERSION:-"canary"}
     export GO111MODULE="on"
     export TEST_COVERAGE="stdout"
-    export VM_DRIVER="kvm2"
+    export VM_DRIVER="podman"
     export MEMORY="14336"
     export NUM_DISKS="3"
     export DISK_SIZE="32gb"
@@ -86,13 +86,32 @@ function set_env() {
     export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/bin
 }
 
+# prepare_disks uses the /dev/xvdb EBS device (40GB) and creates 3 12GB
+# partitions on it. The function uses 'fdisk' with a script that has empty
+# lines for default values while fdisk prompts for them.
+function prepare_disks() {
+    fdisk /dev/xvdb << EOS
+n
+p
+
+
++12G
+n
+p
+
+
++12G
+n
+p
+
+
++12G
+w
+EOS
+}
+
 function install_minikube()
 {
-    dnf -y groupinstall 'Virtualization Host'
-    systemctl enable --now libvirtd
-    # Warning about "No ACPI IVRS table found", not critical
-    virt-host-validate || true
-
     # minikube needs socat
     dnf -y install socat
 
@@ -107,9 +126,6 @@ function install_minikube()
         # minikube 1.25.2 adds the GOARCH to the path ("amd64" in our CI)
         cp ~/.minikube/cache/linux/amd64/"${k8s_version}"/kubectl /usr/bin/
     fi
-
-    # scan for extra disks
-    minikube ssh 'echo 1 | sudo tee /sys/bus/pci/rescan > /dev/null ; dmesg | grep virtio_blk'
 }
 
 function deploy_rook()
@@ -129,6 +145,9 @@ function deploy_rook()
 # Set environment variables
 set_env
 
+# create disk partitions
+prepare_disks
+
 # prepare minikube environment
 install_minikube