diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index c6330b8897..0854d0bf41 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -4264,6 +4264,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "serde_json",
  "tar",
  "temp-env",
+ "tempfile",
  "thiserror 2.0.20",
  "tokio",
  "tokio-stream",
diff --git a/crates/openshell-driver-podman/Cargo.toml b/crates/openshell-driver-podman/Cargo.toml
index c49c309f65..18b1928c33 100644
--- a/crates/openshell-driver-podman/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/openshell-driver-podman/Cargo.toml
@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@ openshell-otel-test-support = { path = "../openshell-otel-test-support" }
 opentelemetry_sdk = { workspace = true, features = ["testing"] }
 prost-types = { workspace = true }
 temp-env = "0.3"
+tempfile = "3"
 tokio = { workspace = true, features = ["test-util"] }
 
 [lints]
diff --git a/e2e/rust/tests/podman_preflight.rs b/crates/openshell-driver-podman/tests/podman_preflight.rs
similarity index 60%
rename from e2e/rust/tests/podman_preflight.rs
rename to crates/openshell-driver-podman/tests/podman_preflight.rs
index afb3bc1c38..439cb95d98 100644
--- a/e2e/rust/tests/podman_preflight.rs
+++ b/crates/openshell-driver-podman/tests/podman_preflight.rs
@@ -1,51 +1,22 @@
 // SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2025-2026 NVIDIA CORPORATION & AFFILIATES. All rights reserved.
 // SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
 
-#![cfg(feature = "e2e-podman")]
-
-//! Podman driver daemon-unavailable e2e tests.
+//! Podman driver daemon-unavailable integration tests.
 //!
 //! These tests verify that `openshell-driver-podman` fails fast with an
 //! actionable error when it cannot reach a Podman API socket, instead of
 //! hanging or silently serving gRPC against a dead connection.
 //!
-//! The tests do NOT require a running Podman daemon or gateway — they point
+//! They do NOT require a running Podman daemon or gateway — they point
 //! `--podman-socket` at a path that is guaranteed not to exist to simulate
-//! the daemon being unavailable.
+//! the daemon being unavailable. As a plain Cargo integration test in this
+//! crate, this runs via the normal `cargo test -p openshell-driver-podman`
+//! lane with no special CI wiring: Cargo provides `CARGO_BIN_EXE_<name>` for
+//! this crate's own `[[bin]]` target automatically.
 
-use std::path::{Path, PathBuf};
+use std::path::PathBuf;
 use std::time::{Duration, Instant};
 
-use openshell_e2e::harness::output::strip_ansi;
-
-/// Locate the workspace root by walking up from this crate's manifest directory.
-fn workspace_root() -> PathBuf {
-    Path::new(env!("CARGO_MANIFEST_DIR"))
-        .ancestors()
-        .nth(2)
-        .expect("failed to resolve workspace root from CARGO_MANIFEST_DIR")
-        .to_path_buf()
-}
-
-/// Return the path to the `openshell-driver-podman` binary.
-///
-/// Uses `OPENSHELL_EXTERNAL_DRIVER_BIN` when set (the same env var the shell
-/// e2e harness uses for prebuilt standalone driver artifacts), otherwise
-/// expects the binary at `<workspace>/target/debug/openshell-driver-podman`.
-fn driver_podman_bin() -> PathBuf {
-    let bin = std::env::var_os("OPENSHELL_EXTERNAL_DRIVER_BIN").map_or_else(
-        || workspace_root().join("target/debug/openshell-driver-podman"),
-        PathBuf::from,
-    );
-    assert!(
-        bin.is_file(),
-        "openshell-driver-podman binary not found at {} — set OPENSHELL_EXTERNAL_DRIVER_BIN \
-         or run `cargo build -p openshell-driver-podman` first",
-        bin.display()
-    );
-    bin
-}
-
 /// Run `openshell-driver-podman` pointed at a Podman socket that does not
 /// exist, and wait for it to exit.
 ///
@@ -53,17 +24,20 @@ fn driver_podman_bin() -> PathBuf {
 /// socket briefly re-activating), so this can take several seconds.
 async fn run_with_unreachable_podman_socket() -> (String, i32, Duration, PathBuf) {
     let tmpdir = tempfile::tempdir().expect("create isolated socket dir");
-    let missing_socket = tmpdir.path().join("openshell-e2e-nonexistent-podman.sock");
+    // Use a short relative path so miette cannot insert a line-wrap gutter
+    // inside it on platforms with long temporary-directory paths.
+    let missing_socket = PathBuf::from("missing-podman.sock");
 
     let start = Instant::now();
-    let mut cmd = tokio::process::Command::new(driver_podman_bin());
+    let mut cmd = tokio::process::Command::new(env!("CARGO_BIN_EXE_openshell-driver-podman"));
     cmd.arg("--podman-socket")
         .arg(&missing_socket)
+        .current_dir(tmpdir.path())
         .kill_on_drop(true)
         .stdout(std::process::Stdio::piped())
         .stderr(std::process::Stdio::piped());
 
-    let output = tokio::time::timeout(Duration::from_secs(60), cmd.output())
+    let output = tokio::time::timeout(Duration::from_mins(1), cmd.output())
         .await
         .expect("openshell-driver-podman should exit instead of hanging")
         .expect("spawn openshell-driver-podman");
@@ -102,15 +76,14 @@ async fn driver_error_names_unreachable_socket() {
     let (output, code, _, missing_socket) = run_with_unreachable_podman_socket().await;
 
     assert_ne!(code, 0);
-    let clean = strip_ansi(&output);
 
     assert!(
-        clean.contains("connection error"),
-        "driver error should describe a connection failure:\n{clean}"
+        output.contains("connection error"),
+        "driver error should describe a connection failure:\n{output}"
     );
     assert!(
-        clean.contains(missing_socket.to_str().expect("socket path is utf-8")),
-        "driver error should name the unreachable socket path {}:\n{clean}",
+        output.contains(missing_socket.to_str().expect("socket path is utf-8")),
+        "driver error should name the unreachable socket path {}:\n{output}",
         missing_socket.display()
     );
 }
diff --git a/e2e/rust/Cargo.toml b/e2e/rust/Cargo.toml
index b492c8ac86..6868193431 100644
--- a/e2e/rust/Cargo.toml
+++ b/e2e/rust/Cargo.toml
@@ -93,11 +93,6 @@ name = "podman_host_gateway"
 path = "tests/podman_host_gateway.rs"
 required-features = ["e2e-podman"]
 
-[[test]]
-name = "podman_preflight"
-path = "tests/podman_preflight.rs"
-required-features = ["e2e-podman"]
-
 [[test]]
 name = "podman_corporate_proxy"
 path = "tests/podman_corporate_proxy.rs"
diff --git a/tests/artifacts.nix b/tests/artifacts.nix
index c3017a5da5..c86d8f6d30 100644
--- a/tests/artifacts.nix
+++ b/tests/artifacts.nix
@@ -116,10 +116,6 @@ let
     "podman_corporate_proxy"
     "podman_gateway_start"
     "podman_oci_identity"
-    # This validates the standalone driver binary's daemon-unavailable path and
-    # belongs in the Podman driver crate's integration tests. The E2E archive
-    # does not contain `openshell-driver-podman`.
-    "podman_preflight"
     "provider_auto_create"
     # The provider-refresh feature suite covers revoked Keycloak grants. This
     # binary instead covers stable workload handles across repeated rotations