diff --git a/.gitlab-ci/molecule.yml b/.gitlab-ci/molecule.yml
index 8bc9a40ae..e8efbaa3f 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci/molecule.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci/molecule.yml
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 ---
-.molecule:
+molecule:
   tags: [ffci]
   rules: # run on ci-short as well
   - if: $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH =~ /^pr-.*$/
@@ -13,7 +13,8 @@
   needs:
   - pipeline-image
   script:
-  - ./tests/scripts/molecule_run.sh
+  - cd roles/$ROLE
+  - molecule test --all -- --extra-vars @${CI_PROJECT_DIR}/tests/common_vars.yml
   after_script:
   - rm -fr molecule_logs
   - mkdir -p molecule_logs
@@ -23,11 +24,6 @@
     when: always
     paths:
     - molecule_logs/
-
-molecule:
-  extends: .molecule
-  script:
-  - ./tests/scripts/molecule_run.sh -i $ROLE
   parallel:
     matrix:
     - ROLE:
diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index 2f3a13799..806b43f79 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ pre-commit run -a  # To run pre-commit hook on all files in the repository, even
 
 #### Molecule
 
-[molecule](https://github.com/ansible-community/molecule) is designed to help the development and testing of Ansible roles. In Kubespray you can run it all for all roles with `./tests/scripts/molecule_run.sh` or for a specific role (that you are working with) with `molecule test` from the role directory (`cd roles/my-role`).
+[molecule](https://github.com/ansible-community/molecule) is designed to help the development and testing of Ansible roles. In Kubespray you can run it all for all roles with `find roles -name molecule -type d -execdir molecule test --all -- -e @$PWD/tests/common_vars.yml \;` or for a specific role (that you are working with) with `molecule test` from the role directory (`cd roles/my-role`).
 
 When developing or debugging a role it can be useful to run `molecule create` and `molecule converge` separately. Then you can use `molecule login` to SSH into the test environment.
 
diff --git a/roles/container-engine/gvisor/molecule/default/verify.yml b/roles/container-engine/gvisor/molecule/default/verify.yml
index 35e847e53..19fda76e6 100644
--- a/roles/container-engine/gvisor/molecule/default/verify.yml
+++ b/roles/container-engine/gvisor/molecule/default/verify.yml
@@ -6,6 +6,12 @@
   - name: Get kubespray defaults
     import_role:
       name: ../../../../../kubespray_defaults
+  - name: Get OS facts (needed for bin_dir resolution)
+    setup:
+      gather_subset:
+      - '!all'
+      - '!min'
+      - 'distribution'
   - name: Test version
     command: "{{ bin_dir }}/runsc --version"
     register: runsc_version
diff --git a/roles/container-engine/kata-containers/molecule/default/converge.yml b/roles/container-engine/kata-containers/molecule/default/converge.yml
index 9a7922e9f..c52ece50a 100644
--- a/roles/container-engine/kata-containers/molecule/default/converge.yml
+++ b/roles/container-engine/kata-containers/molecule/default/converge.yml
@@ -2,9 +2,6 @@
 - name: Converge
   hosts: all
   become: true
-  vars:
-    kata_containers_enabled: true
-    container_manager: containerd
   roles:
     - role: kubespray_defaults
     - role: container-engine/containerd
diff --git a/roles/container-engine/kata-containers/molecule/default/molecule.yml b/roles/container-engine/kata-containers/molecule/default/molecule.yml
index 6e6e1c7cb..5e294aea2 100644
--- a/roles/container-engine/kata-containers/molecule/default/molecule.yml
+++ b/roles/container-engine/kata-containers/molecule/default/molecule.yml
@@ -7,12 +7,16 @@ platforms:
     vm_memory: 1024
     node_groups:
       - kube_control_plane
+      - kube_node
+      - k8s_cluster
   - name: ubuntu24
     cloud_image: ubuntu-2404
     vm_cpu_cores: 1
     vm_memory: 1024
     node_groups:
       - kube_control_plane
+      - kube_node
+      - k8s_cluster
 provisioner:
   name: ansible
   env:
@@ -21,6 +25,11 @@ provisioner:
     defaults:
       callbacks_enabled: profile_tasks
       timeout: 120
+  inventory:
+    group_vars:
+      k8s_cluster:
+        kata_containers_enabled: true
+        container_manager: containerd
   playbooks:
     create: ../../../../../tests/cloud_playbooks/create-kubevirt.yml
     prepare: ../../../molecule/prepare.yml
diff --git a/roles/container-engine/kata-containers/molecule/default/verify.yml b/roles/container-engine/kata-containers/molecule/default/verify.yml
index 93ca857ad..8550f55d8 100644
--- a/roles/container-engine/kata-containers/molecule/default/verify.yml
+++ b/roles/container-engine/kata-containers/molecule/default/verify.yml
@@ -3,6 +3,15 @@
   hosts: all
   gather_facts: false
   tasks:
+  - name: Get kubespray defaults
+    import_role:
+      name: ../../../../../kubespray_defaults
+  - name: Get OS facts (needed for bin_dir resolution)
+    setup:
+      gather_subset:
+      - '!all'
+      - '!min'
+      - 'distribution'
   - name: Test version
     command: "/opt/kata/bin/kata-runtime version"
     register: version
diff --git a/roles/container-engine/molecule/test_cri.yml b/roles/container-engine/molecule/test_cri.yml
index e40fe111f..f18875010 100644
--- a/roles/container-engine/molecule/test_cri.yml
+++ b/roles/container-engine/molecule/test_cri.yml
@@ -7,6 +7,12 @@
   - name: Get kubespray defaults
     import_role:
       name: ../../kubespray_defaults
+  - name: Get OS facts (needed for bin_dir resolution)
+    setup:
+      gather_subset:
+      - '!all'
+      - '!min'
+      - 'distribution'
   - name: Collect services facts
     ansible.builtin.service_facts:
 
diff --git a/roles/container-engine/youki/molecule/default/verify.yml b/roles/container-engine/youki/molecule/default/verify.yml
index 75adeb559..4e6cb931e 100644
--- a/roles/container-engine/youki/molecule/default/verify.yml
+++ b/roles/container-engine/youki/molecule/default/verify.yml
@@ -6,6 +6,12 @@
   - name: Get kubespray defaults
     import_role:
       name: ../../../../../kubespray_defaults
+  - name: Get OS facts (needed for bin_dir resolution)
+    setup:
+      gather_subset:
+      - '!all'
+      - '!min'
+      - 'distribution'
   - name: Test version
     command: "{{ bin_dir }}/youki --version"
     register: youki_version
diff --git a/tests/scripts/molecule_run.sh b/tests/scripts/molecule_run.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index 9604238e1..000000000
--- a/tests/scripts/molecule_run.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,34 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/bash
-set -euxo pipefail -o noglob
-
-export LC_ALL=C.UTF-8
-export LANG=C.UTF-8
-
-_PATH='roles'
-_EXCLUDE=""
-
-while [[ $# -gt 0 ]] ; do
-    case $1 in
-        -e|--exclude)
-            _EXCLUDE="${_EXCLUDE} -not -path ${_PATH}/$2/*"
-            shift
-            shift
-            ;;
-        -i|--include)
-            _PATH="${_PATH}/$2"
-            shift
-            shift
-            ;;
-        -h|--help)
-            echo "Usage: molecule_run.sh [-h|--help] [-e|--exclude] [-i|--include]"
-            exit 0
-            ;;
-    esac
-done
-
-for d in $(find ${_PATH} ${_EXCLUDE} -name molecule -type d)
-do
-    pushd $(dirname $d)
-    molecule test --all
-    popd
-done