diff --git a/awx/ui/test/e2e/cluster/Dockerfile b/awx/ui/test/e2e/cluster/Dockerfile
index ce4364ae80..73cbe3906e 100644
--- a/awx/ui/test/e2e/cluster/Dockerfile
+++ b/awx/ui/test/e2e/cluster/Dockerfile
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 FROM centos:7
 
+ARG NPMRC_FILE=awx/ui/.npmrc
+ENV NPMRC_FILE=${NPMRC_FILE}
+
 RUN yum -y update && yum -y install epel-release && yum -y install https://centos7.iuscommunity.org/ius-release.rpm
 
 RUN yum install -y \
@@ -15,12 +18,9 @@ WORKDIR /awx
 
 COPY awx/ui/package.json awx/ui/package.json
 
-ARG NPM_REGISTRY=https://registry.npmjs.org
-ENV NPM_REGISTRY=${NPM_REGISTRY}
+COPY ${NPMRC_FILE} awx/ui/.npmrc
 
-RUN npm config set registry ${NPM_REGISTRY}
-
-RUN npm --prefix=awx/ui install
+RUN npm --prefix=awx/ui config list && npm --prefix=awx/ui install
 
 COPY awx/ui/test/e2e awx/ui/test/e2e
 
diff --git a/awx/ui/test/e2e/cluster/docker-compose.yml b/awx/ui/test/e2e/cluster/docker-compose.yml
index 72e1f5828d..bd2a0fac05 100644
--- a/awx/ui/test/e2e/cluster/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/awx/ui/test/e2e/cluster/docker-compose.yml
@@ -39,4 +39,4 @@ services:
       AWX_E2E_CLUSTER_HOST: hub
       AWX_E2E_CLUSTER_PORT: 4444
       DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS: /dev/null
-      NPM_REGISTRY: ${NPM_REGISTRY}
+      NPMRC_FILE: ${NPMRC_FILE}