diff --git a/awx/main/isolated/isolated_manager.py b/awx/main/isolated/isolated_manager.py
index 06278fb049..dfdbed34d1 100644
--- a/awx/main/isolated/isolated_manager.py
+++ b/awx/main/isolated/isolated_manager.py
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@ import codecs
 import StringIO
 import json
 import os
-import re
 import shutil
 import stat
 import tempfile
@@ -150,6 +149,13 @@ class IsolatedManager(object):
             secrets['ssh_key_data'] = buff.getvalue()
             os.remove(self.ssh_key_path)
 
+        # write the entire secret payload to a named pipe
+        # the run_isolated.yml playbook will use a lookup to read this data
+        # into a variable, and will replicate the data into a named pipe on the
+        # isolated instance
+        secrets_path = os.path.join(self.private_data_dir, 'env')
+        run.open_fifo_write(secrets_path, base64.b64encode(json.dumps(secrets)))
+
         self.build_isolated_job_data()
 
         extra_vars = {
@@ -172,9 +178,6 @@ class IsolatedManager(object):
         logger.debug('Starting job on isolated host with `run_isolated.yml` playbook.')
         status, rc = IsolatedManager.run_pexpect(
             args, self.awx_playbook_path(), self.management_env, buff,
-            expect_passwords={
-                re.compile(r'Secret:\s*?$', re.M): base64.b64encode(json.dumps(secrets))
-            },
             idle_timeout=self.idle_timeout,
             job_timeout=settings.AWX_ISOLATED_LAUNCH_TIMEOUT,
             pexpect_timeout=5
@@ -216,7 +219,9 @@ class IsolatedManager(object):
             '- /project/.svn',
             '- /project/.hg',
             # don't rsync job events that are in the process of being written
-            '- /artifacts/job_events/*-partial.json.tmp'
+            '- /artifacts/job_events/*-partial.json.tmp',
+            # rsync can't copy named pipe data - we're replicating this manually ourselves in the playbook
+            '- /env'
         ]
 
         for filename, data in (
diff --git a/awx/main/tests/unit/isolated/test_expect.py b/awx/main/tests/unit/isolated/test_expect.py
index c44ba681f3..5b8c4aac27 100644
--- a/awx/main/tests/unit/isolated/test_expect.py
+++ b/awx/main/tests/unit/isolated/test_expect.py
@@ -163,7 +163,8 @@ def test_build_isolated_job_data(private_data_dir, rsa_key):
             '- /project/.git',
             '- /project/.svn',
             '- /project/.hg',
-            '- /artifacts/job_events/*-partial.json.tmp'
+            '- /artifacts/job_events/*-partial.json.tmp',
+            '- /env'
         ])
 
 
diff --git a/awx/playbooks/run_isolated.yml b/awx/playbooks/run_isolated.yml
index 1dbd1e6561..5233f63dd1 100644
--- a/awx/playbooks/run_isolated.yml
+++ b/awx/playbooks/run_isolated.yml
@@ -8,10 +8,8 @@
 - name: Prepare data, dispatch job in isolated environment.
   hosts: all
   gather_facts: false
-  vars_prompt:
-    - prompt: "Secret"
-      name: "secret"
-      private: yes
+  vars:
+      secret: "{{ lookup('pipe', 'cat ' + src + '/env') }}"
 
   tasks: